When We Stand Together
by Teletraan-1
Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s head engineer is kindnapped by Loki and experimented on, his experiments soon leave her with superhuman abilities and a spot along side the avengers. Can the woman learn to control her powers during the madness of the battle of New York? Or more importantly, will her husband be able to except what she has become? AoU spoilers, you have been warned!
1. Too Late

When We Stand Together chapter 1

Chapter title: **Too Late**

 **A/N:** **Hey everyone! Ok I've had this fic idea for way over a year now and I've never been able to bring myself to write it but seeing Age of Ultron multiple times has inspired the hell out of me. I should probably start off by saying that if you haven't seen Age of Ultron this fic does and will contain spoilers for the film! So if you don't want to know anything then click off of this fic!**

 **Now with my main character and her powers, I'd like to put out there that I had her powers set in stone before AoU came out but now that I think about it she is basically the Maximoff's combined which is slightly annoying. As her powers develop you will kinda see it, especially with Wanda. But don't worry because I have the perfect idea on how to incorporate it all so just hang tight and you'll find out somewhere down the line. Anywho, enough from me. This is my first crack at a proper avengers fic so I hope it goes alright.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything aside from the made up plots. The characters, films etc. Belong to Marvel and it's companions.**

Black. Black was the first thing she remembered as her consciousness crept up on her. She had no clear recollection of what happened. Not until she opened her eyes and saw a man, with pitch black hair, gleaming, green eyes, and some cosplay looking get up, looming over her. The man smirked at the woman's confused expression, showing off his perfect white teeth "Well, it's a pleasure to see that you've re-joined us Laura." He chuckled to himself. Laura had quickly come to the conclusion that she wasn't at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ anymore. Memories finally started to come back piece by piece. One minute she was on the outskirts of the HQ improving a car engine, next she remembers a dark room and the same man walking in to greet her. Then something in a lab pops up in her memory, she recalls some blue and silver, exoskeletal contraption sitting beside her on a metal table. Next thing a sudden wave of excruciating pain crashes into her memory, the reason why wasn't clear but she was guessing it had something to do with that contraption she saw next to her.

The unknown man circles her and continued to smirk at the woman's constantly changing expression "I'm guessing that you can't recall much of the recent events that have occurred." Laura looked up at the man, her emotions finally settling on anger, who the hell did this guy think he was? She went to sit up but the restraints around her body stopped her, along with a stab of pain running up her spine. Laura cried out sharply before doing her best to hid the pain, she didn't want to give this man anymore ammunition. The man chuckled again as the S.H.I.E.L.D. engineer fought against her binds. The more Laura moved, the more she felt something on her back, she looked down to her feet as much as she could to see what was restraining her. Below the sports bra she was wearing, a strong glow of blue reflected against the metal table, it was coming off of her!

Desperately, Laura struggled again, her newly tender back, and whatever was attached to it, scraped against the metal table she was being restrained to. "Who the hell are you?!" Laura shouted at the man in front of her.  
"Why, I am Loki of Asgard." The engineer's eyes widened. She'd heard Coulson and Fury talk about this guy, he was related to that Thor, she thought. They talked about Loki like he was a viable threat. Not that she had been eavesdropping or anything…

"Well, it seems my reputation precedes me." Loki said smugly as he continued circling around Laura as if she were his prey.  
"Why am I here? What have you done to me?" sure Laura was a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. but she was just an engineer, she never thought of herself as a useful hostage. The academy never properly prepared her for this sort of thing like they did with the real agents.

Proudly, the man finished his circuit around her and came to a stop near her head. He loomed over her, green eyes full of mischief and evil "let's just say that you have been… selected to be my test subject." He grins at her "It seems I chose wisely with you. It was highly likely that you wouldn't have survived the operation but you have a strong personality Miss Harper." The man leans in further to the shocked woman's personal space. And evil scowl taking over his face "or should I say Mrs. Ba-" alarm caused Laura to shout a response.  
"Stop! Don't say it!" Laura felt panic start to rise within her. No one, apart from Coulson, Romanoff, Fury, Hill and well, her husband, knew she was married. This wasn't good. If Loki could get this kind of information then he definitely was a large threat.

Eventually, Loki left Laura with her thoughts. Slowly looking around, she took in her surroundings. The place was a dump. Four cold, dark grey, steels walls box her in. The bitter outside air seeping in through them. It's only now that she realises that there is medical equipment everywhere, the largest thing being the heart monitor which was beeping along with every pump of her heart. Next to her was another metal table which used to hold the contraption that she was now sure was attached to her. This was all so strange. She was just a normal member of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was a nobody, she had nothing of value to offer Loki, except maybe her engineering skills, but he could've gone a lot bigger and taken someone like, Tony Stark. But he wasn't even using her for what she was skilled in. From what she can tell he must've watched her for a little bit before taking her, he knew too much about her. And wait a second… what was all of that about her being strong and surviving an operation that should've killed her?

The more Laura thought, the more she got lost in her own head. She shook herself back to reality, this wasn't the right time to breakdown or panic or anything like that. She hadn't been properly trained as a spy but she spent all of her time with Agents Barton and Romanoff, and they had taught her some basics along the way. Firstly, she had to manage her breathing, take herself to a happy place and just clear her head. Next, look for anything that could resemble and exit, vents, broken corners of ceilings, anything. Then, observe her restraints, what material were they made of? Could they be broken? What can assist in breaking them, that is within the short arms reach? Finally, contact. Any possible way to send a message out to S.H.I.E.L.D., co-ordinates, hints etc.

After a while, Laura finally managed to control her breathing, she spotted a tiny hole in the corner of the ceiling but she still hadn't got around to sorting out the restraints and contact. Unfortunately, time wasn't on her side as Loki came strolling back in, as if he owned the world, and came to a stop beside her "Time for some tests, Laura." Tests? She had a feeling they weren't the kind you took at school. What the hell were they testing her for? Was it to do with her being Loki's experiment? Ah, there were too many questions.

Laura stumbled as she was roughly shoved into some high tech looking room. This was a bit of a contrast to the rest of the place. The room was small with one-way glass walls that seemed to be reinforced. She walked up to the tinted wall and took in her reflection, she had a couple of bruises and tiny cuts on her face, as she looked further up she noticed that her eyes were no longer an almost black-brown but they were glowing blue. What shocked her even more was the metal on her body. As she was being lead to this room, she felt the thing on her back tugging with each step she took. Uncertainly, she turned and lifted up the hem of the loose t-shirt that Loki had handed to her on the way here, even without lifting it she could easily see the blue glow on her back, but as she did the blue turned sharp, if she saw it in any other circumstance she would've stared in awe at the beautiful colour, but all she could do was look in shock at her reflection. This thing started thick and flat on the small of her back, there were waves of this blue energy which flowed rythemically up and down the thing. As it rose it became more prominent and thin until finally it reached the base of her skull. Turning to get a better look, Laura could feel the small metal supports moving with her skin. This was so messed up. What did Loki turn her into?

She just stared at her body in shock, this couldn't be happening.

Loki's voice sounded within the tiny room, Laura looked up to see speakers in the corners of the place. "Admiring your latest addition to your body Laura?" she could practically hear the smirk on his face "The operation was just the first part but now we need to perform the actual experiments. Help yourself and just do and say as the doctor instructs. Otherwise I'll have to come in there and make you." The force behind Loki's words was strong and it shook the woman straight to her core. Her fear had spiked now.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Laura was back in her barren and cold room, she was no longer restrained because they knew she wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Huddled in the corner the woman wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin atop of them.

That was one of the scariest experiences of her life. They didn't even touch her, it was all psychological torment. Loki and his doctor knew what made Laura tick, they played with her emotions, anger, fear, happiness etc. the list went on. They did everything imaginable to test whether or not she would react. And to her surprise her body did react, without her doing. When they were tormenting her to make her angry, she felt a rush of unknown energy flowing through her nerves, as if her neurones suddenly became hyper active, and then suddenly this energy flowed from her finger tips in misty, blue waves as she aimed her hands at the speakers in the room. She had crushed the speakers in seconds and the doctor's voice had cut off from within the room.

It was horrible. This thing they had attached to her had turned her into a freak. Something unnatural that shouldn't exist. She didn't want to be someone's experiment, she didn't want to be Loki's slave, and she didn't want to be his weapon. He obviously created this thing because he was preparing for an attack, which Laura was pretty sure would be on S.H.I.E.L.D.

The thought of him controlling her and sending her in to kill her friends, hell her family, it was almost too much to bare. This couldn't be happening.

Silently, Laura lifted her head up and wiped away the tears she hadn't even realised had fallen. What would Natasha think of her crying in this situation, she needed to stay strong. If she could just keep holding out then she was sure that someone would come to rescue her.

As if reading her mind, the entire room shook. Laura scrambled to her feet and readied herself for whatever was coming through that door.

The steel grey door swung open with such force that one of the hinges came off. Loki stormed into the room, his sceptre grasped in his hand. He came to a stop in front of her "I must say, your friends are earlier than expected. But no matter, it is time to see what you can do Miss Harper." Laura could only stand there, motionless from fear, as Loki pressed the tip of his sceptre to the centre of her chest. She shut her eyes in preparation for the worst, but after a few seconds she re-opened them to find Loki glaring at the object. He growled "the tesseract energy must be counteracting the mind control."

Before either of them could think, Loki was sent flying across the room by a weapon that Laura clearly recognised, it was one of her prototypes. Next thing she knew Natasha Romanoff was standing in front of her with her hand outstretched. "Let's get you home Laura." The engineer didn't have to think twice about that, she took the Russian's hand and let herself be lead from the room. In the distance they could hear Loki's shouts as he realised Laura was gone.

They sprinted down the hallways of the unknown place as a couple of shots rang out behind them, lucky for the two women, it seemed Loki's subjects had crap aim. All except one, as they turned a corner an arrow sank into the wall, centimetres from Laura's head.

It had all happened so fast. Too fast for her mind to process. One minute she was in that silent room and the next she was sitting next to Natasha and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, in one of their standard issue jeeps, as the spy sped them away from Loki and his wrath.

As recent events started to catch up on her and her nerves started to calm, she turned to Natasha "Natasha what the hell is going on? And where's Clint, the man is normally glued to your side during missions." it was rare for them to not go on a mission together, especially one like that. They were partners after all.

It was at that moment her head decided to have a light-bulb moment. The arrow that almost took her ear off. She only knew one person who had such accurate aim with a bow and arrow. Immediately the woman's neon eyes widened.

Natasha sighed, She really wanted to wait and have this conversation back at the helicarrier but Laura was distraught and needed to know. The random agent turned his head in an attempt to give the two women privacy. "Barton… has been compromised. Loki's controlling him." Natasha said with slight defeat in her tone.

No.

 **A/N: Well that's chapter 1 sorted. This was a little darker than I first anticipated but I promise things will get lighter next chapter or the one after that. If it seemed a little rushed then have no fear! I can answer any questions you might have!**

 **I hope you enjoyed it and if you did then please leave a review. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

 **Oh and if you want to have an idea of what Laura's weird spine exoskeleton looks like then there is a link in my profile**


	2. Million Miles An Hour

When We Stand Together chapter 2

Chapter title: **Million Miles An Hour**

Laura followed an agent named Weller as they sprinted through the roaring winds that whipped past them. The engineer had to admit she had never been the biggest fan of the flying fortress. That feeling of the wind slapping you in the face as you do your best to stay calm and take in air, not her favourite thing to do after being kidnapped and tortured for however long she was with Loki.

Finally the door closed behind them and Laura continued to follow the agent until she was three feet in front of Nick Fury. "Miss Harper. I'm sorry for what happened." Laura didn't respond to the man, she just averted her eyes to her feet in hopes of a change of topic. She really didn't want any pity, she already felt weak enough as it is. "After your recent events, I know you'd want some time to yourself. But unfortunately, time is not on our side. I'm sure agent Romanoff has informed you of Barton's status and by the looks of it, you have met our new enemy." Laura cringed at the thought of Loki. Fury noticed and decided to cut straight to the point. "We have a guest I'd like you to get acquainted with. You two have a lot in common. I need you to help him track the tesseract."  
"Yes, Sir." Those were the only two words she spoke to the director before agent Phil Coulson came over to escort her to the new guest.

Once they were out of sight from the main deck, Phil wrapped his arms around the younger woman and as he did so, he could feel the boxed outline of the experiment on her back. "I'm glad you're safe Laura." The man smiled as she locked her arms around him and dropped her head onto his shoulder. Coulson and Laura go back a long way, they have been friends ever since he recruited her all those years ago, and not once has Laura looked back. Even now.

Somehow, the older man always knew what she needed and right now, that was a friend, someone to hold onto through all of the rush and confusion. Taking a few deep breaths, Laura pulled herself together. Like Fury said, time is not on their side. It was best she just got her mission out of the way so she could take a breather. Phil smelt familiar, he smelt of his typical musky, old spice cologne and she had never been more thankful.

Minutes later, she released the agent and smiled a silent thanks to him. Coulson just nodded and moved on, knowing that she would fall in behind him.

After turning a few corners, they pair arrived outside of the helicarrier's laboratory. Phil waited for the automatic, grey doors to slid open and grant them entry. Once they did, the agent stepped in and walked over to a man who had his back to them. The 'guest' was wearing: a pair of brownish suit trousers, the matching blazer was hung over the back of a chair, and a purple, long-sleeved shirt.

Bruce turned around at the sound of footsteps and met the faces of agent Coulson and a woman who had accompanied him. Smiling, Phil gestured to the woman "Doctor Banner, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.'S head engineer, Laura Harper. She's had a recent… interaction, with the tesseract so she will be assisting you with your search. If either of you need anything, just let me know." Finishing his quick introductions, Coulson made a swift exit and left the two of them to get acquainted.

Laura couldn't believe it. Doctor Bruce Banner himself was standing right in front of her. The doctor gave her a small smile "Nice to meet you Laura." The first thing he noticed about her was her piercing, glowing blue eyes. Not to mention that even the veins on her arms seemed to have a neon blue tint to them.  
"Same to you Doctor Banner. It's an honour. I'm a huge fan of your work." The man ducked his head slightly at the praise.  
"Thanks and call me Bruce." The woman nodded as she walked around the room, taking in what the man was doing. As she turned her back to him, Bruce could see the blue glow than ran down the centre of her back, through the white t-shirt she had on. "So. Uh, you had a recent run in with the tesseract?" Laura suddenly felt extremely aware of the thing on her back, as well as Bruce's eyes burning into the contraption. The woman sighed, she hadn't really had much time to think about what had happened to her, but no time like the present. She fired into an incomplete explanation of everything she could remember, which wasn't all that much, and watched the doctor's face as his expression constantly changed throughout the story.

Bruce circled her as he processed her story. "So you just crushed those speakers?" the engineer nodded "this blue, it's oddly similar to the tesseract. Do you think Loki somehow extracted a small part of the cube's energy and placed it into that exoskeleton?"  
"That would be my best guess. I'm pretty sure I saw Doctor Selvig whilst I was in that place. Loki has the ability to mind control people at will, he's using good people against us. He tried to use it on me but his plan backfired since the tesseract's energy counteracts the power of Loki's sceptre." She explained to the man who nodded, completely fascinated by the whole thing.  
"If you want, I can run a scan so we can try to see what effect the energy, and its casing, is having on you." Laura suddenly lit up, she nodded erratically.  
"Please Bruce. I need to know what the hell this thing is turning me into. Maybe you can think of a way to get it off."

Laura removed her shirt, leaving her in the sports crop top that was stuck to the sides of her back, it seems whoever installed the device cut the crop top so they could access her back fully. And instead of fixing it, they just stuck it onto the sides of her back with two skin safe, double sided, sticky pads. Bruce was pretty shocked as he took the thing in. This contraption was a work of art, but he kept that to himself since he was pretty sure that Laura would disagree. He directed her on how to stand as he started the scanning process.

Biting her lip, Laura sat on a chair waiting for the scan results. Her nerves starting to get to her. "Oh my god." She heard Bruce whisper and as if by magic, her nerves spiked. She came rushing over  
"What?"  
"Laura I… Don't know how to say this but, there is no way this thing is coming off you." The engineer felt as if the oxygen had just been knocked out of her body. She was stuck with this thing… forever.  
"But… But how? Why can't it come off?" Bruce could see the devastation and sheer defeat in her glowing eyes. He'd know this woman for just over an hour but already he could see that she was a good person.  
"There are tiny wires that allow the tesseracts energy to flow into your body. Those wires have integrated themselves into your nervous system as well as your arteries and veins. If we even try to remove it, you'll die instantly." The man explained solemnly whilst using hand gestures to aid his explanation

This wasn't real, it couldn't be. Just three days ago, she was at home getting ready for work alongside her husband and in the space of those three days, she had been kidnapped, experimented with, tortured and she had been told that there was no way that she could be normal again. How the hell could she go out and do her shopping with a goddamn exoskeleton on her back! Ok maybe that wasn't the first thing her mind should be thinking about but still. Everything she used to do, she couldn't do anymore. She'd have to explain this to her friends, her family, her husband. Her husband… Would he ever look at her the same again? Would he still love her? Or would he be disgusted with what she has become?

All the thoughts were too much and Laura stumbled over to a chair and took a seat. She dropped her head into her hands and took deep breaths. Her anxiety was taking over, everything that was happening lately was too much. She was never one to let her feelings out but right now her body didn't care about embarrassment, it cared about getting enough air.

Bruce knelt down beside her, preparing to help her calm down but just as he opened his mouth, the room started shaking. Looking around, the doctor looked in shock as small objects in the room started to float up and off of the surface they were originally on. "Ok Laura, you need to calm down. You're panicking. Just breathe steady ok."

 _Calm down Laura. Just calm down. Breath in, 1 2 3 4. Hold i 7. Breath ou 8._ Laura repeated the exercise until her pulse started to return to normal and the pounding in her head subsided. Doctor Banner breathed a sigh of relief when all the floating things returned to their original places.

After a while Laura lifted her head again. Bruce gave her a reassuring smile "You good?" she just nodded  
"Yeah. Sorry about that."  
"Don't worry." He was having an internal debate about telling her about the floating thing. He really didn't want to stress her out even more, but, telling her now could benefit everyone in the long run if she learns how to control it. Sighing, Bruce moved to kneel before the engineer "Laura, I… You…" how the hell do you start a sentence like that? "Uh, just then when you were panicking… it seems that well, you made all the small objects in the room levitate. I'm guessing it's a similar effect to that speaker incident you were telling me about. Trust me when I say that I know about letting your emotions get the best of you. But this is new and I think you can learn how to control It."  
"I made stuff levitate? Oh my god what the hell am I Bruce?!"  
"Laura listen, you can either curse Loki about doing this to you, or you can push past it and learn to embrace it. Because if you fixate on the cons, you're going to drive yourself insane. I've only known you for a short while but I can already see that you're a strong woman who can overcome this. Like Loki said, you survived an operation that you really shouldn't have. You've been given a chance to carry on living. Don't waste it by dwelling on the past." Bruce's words hit her like a ton of bricks, he was right, she had other people to think about besides herself. And they wouldn't be best pleased if she started going crazy over something she couldn't control, she needed to focus on what she could control. She needed to learn to embrace what she had become.

Damn, she gone through about twenty different mind sets in the few days. But Bruce knew what he was talking about, she'd read up on his accident and she knows that he has gone over a year without an incident. If he can control his demons, she's pretty sure she can control hers.

Laura just sat there for a while, thinking about everything and nothing. After a while she looked up at the genius before her "Okay. Bruce you're right. But how do I learn to control it?" the man smiled again, glad she wasn't going to give up on everything in her life because of one set back, however big it was. Bruce walked over to the computers to continue tracking the tesseract as he thought of how to answer her. Rubbing his chin with his thumb and forefinger.  
"Can you describe the feeling of the power? Where it originates from? How it flows? Anything." He watched as the woman thought about the process and he saw the moment she remembered something  
"I'm pretty sure it came from the base of the exoskeleton. And from there it seems to flow up and through my hands. My mind must think it's the best way to expel the energy." She shrugged and Bruce nodded. He had no idea how he got stuck on powers training, but he knew the feeling of being exposed to gamma radiation, on a much larger scale of course but still. He somehow felt as though he needed to help her, whether that was just his medical instincts kicking in or if it was a personal connection to the situation, he didn't know. But he wasn't going to just stand by and watch Laura unfold.

"Right. So do you think you can recreate that feeling? But don't use your emotions. If you start doing that then it will be extremely hard to gain control properly later on. You have to remember that you are in control, no one else, not me, not Loki and not the tesseract. It's all you. Since the skeleton is so intricately wired into you, you should be able to feel it and control it. Try your best to channel the energy." If he was being honest, he didn't even know if what the hell he was saying was even right, but it seemed logical enough. He watched as she tried to do so and then the doctor suddenly remembered something. "Wait! Let's give you something to focus on, so you don't start levitating everything in the room. Uh…" spinning around, the doctor gave a _ah-ha!_ Before rushing over to the desk and tipping the pencils out of the pot they were in. He then cleared the desk in front of her and placed the pot down before nodding at her encouragingly.

Laura breathed in and pushed all of her anxiety out. _Nothing was riding on this, it was just a little test, that was all. Just to see if you can channel the tesseract energy on your own. No_ _big deal._

Silence filled the room and the engineer focused on recreating the energy surge. Holding her hand out towards the pot, both people in the room watched as translucent, blue waves flowed towards the object which slowly began to lift up. Laura couldn't believe that she was doing this, it was all her, this was so strange yet it felt natural now she was in control of the situation. The weight on her back suddenly felt lighter since she stopped fighting it and just let the exoskeleton become a part of her.

Slowly, she lowered the pencil pot back down and just stared at her hand. She did that, she actually made something float. Laura looked over to Bruce who had a supportive smile on his face. "Good job. See, you just have to accept it and move on so you can regain control. Which you did. And by the looks of it, the tesseract has given you some form of telekinesis."  
"I never would've thought anything like this would happen to me. It's still pretty strange but I guess I have no choice but to live with it."

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

It had been about half an hour since their little pencil pot test, the pair had moved on to continue tracking the tesseract's whereabouts. Just as Laura was gesturing to one of the glass screens in the room, Bruce looked up to the window that led to the hallway outside, he removed his glasses and just stared. Confused, Laura followed the man's gaze until her newly blue eyes land on Loki himself, the engineer could feel the anger bubbling within her, her hand, that was still in mid-air, clenched into a fist automatically. However she didn't expect the result of the glass window between the hallway and the lab shattering into thousands of pieces. Everyone jumped at the sound of the shattering window, even Laura herself. Loki just gave an evil, hysterical laugh before being led out of sight.

"Crap. Why does he make me so angry?" the woman questioned as she knelt down to collect as much of the broken glass as she could, Bruce joins her without saying a word, deciding that her question was rhetorical as she knew the exact answer.

Just as they were gathering the last shards, Bruce heard Laura give a quiet gasp before shaking her finger and sucking on the wound "You alright?" she nodded  
"yeah, just a little cut." She removed the finger from her mouth so she could inspect the cut, the doctor watched as the woman's face warped into confusion. Bruce looked over to see what was wrong and he saw what it was instantly. The blood running from Laura's wound wasn't red, it was purple. It was obviously tainted with the tesseract's energy. She looked up at him "This is so weird." Before Bruce could reply, Natasha came in and looked down at the pair  
"Fury wants everyone in the meeting room. We have some introductions to do. Let's go. Both of you." The doctor and engineer stood up and followed the spy out of the lab.

Who did they have to meet right now that was so urgent?

 **A/N:** **Chapter 2 my friends! I'm sorry if this one kinda sucks. It was one I had finished from when I uploaded this story the first time. I did go through and change a few things but if the tense jumps around or the story line itself isn't great then I'm really sorry. I promise the next one will be better. But if you liked it then great! Leave a review if you want, they inspire me to write.**


	3. Figured You Out

When We Stand Together chapter 3

Chapter title: **Figured You Out**

 **A/N:** **Hey people! Chapter three is here! This one follows the film pretty closely so there shall be much dialogue within this chapter! So I apologise for that in advance if you aren't a dialogue loving person. Things should start to liven up next chapter so this one is just a build up for it. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Review replies:**

 **-fezwearingjellybananas: Hey! Thank you so much for the most detailed review I have gotten on any of my stories! It's really appreciated. Your kind words inspired me to finish this chapter so thanks for that. I'm so glad you like the fact that Laura is the main character, and that she is a big part in S.H.I.E.L.D. She is very different to her friends, she isn't a trained fighter like Barton and Romanoff, she's just a techy who got caught up in all this alien business and now she has to live with it. I really hope this chapter has some good science bonding for you! Only time will tell about what will happen with Laura and those she cares about! Gotta keep some mystery ;)**

Natasha walked the pair into the main room where Cap and Thor were waiting. The spy introduced everyone before they all took a seat to listen as Director Fury had a little chat with Loki.

This was all so surreal, she was standing in the same room as the legendary Captain America and the Norse God Thor, whilst having a genius, time bomb of a man on her right and a killer assassin on her left. Just a normal day at work.

That was the moment Laura realised that she wasn't as normal as she thought anymore, she was one of them. Obviously she wasn't some badass warrior but she was pretty sure she wasn't fully human anymore, she had a 'gift' (not that she really thought being tortured and experimented on against your will, was a gift.) just like the rest of them.

Fury was giving Loki the whole behave or you're dead speech. Loki just smirked at the man at the mention of his prison's strength and what it was built for. Loki's smug voice filled their ears "Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man." Everyone turned to look at Bruce with apologetic eyes.

They all continued to listen as Loki tried to manipulate them all, tried to control them, to anger them. But Fury was there to constantly shut him down, he refused to let Loki win.

Once the feed to Loki's private prison cut off, Bruce spoke up "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Laura smirked at the comment as Steve cut straight to business, ignoring the rhetorical question. Thor provided answers as to what Loki's plan could be whilst the rest of them brainstormed ideas to stop the Frost Giant. 

After much debating, Bruce went on to talk about mechanics which caught Laura's attention. Just as the woman was going to help the doctor with the thought process, Tony Stark himself came sauntering in with agent Coulson in tow, who left swiftly after dropping the billionaire off.

In the first three seconds of the man speaking, Laura could already tell that he lived up to this image that the media had painted of him. He walked straight in and sassed Thor, the demigod she might add, before continuing his speech on the portal.

Tony played around with Fury's computers before turning back to them all, spewing forth a load of science information that was lost on a couple of people in the room. Maria gives the man a questioning look "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"  
"Last night." The man stated matter of fact-ly. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Laura had to admit that although this guy could come across as arrogant, he really did know his stuff.  
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve questioned to Tony but Bruce decided to answer for him  
"He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Tony looked pleased with the answer as he built off of it.  
"Unless… Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect."  
"Well, if he could do that, then he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet" Laura replied automatically without even thinking. Everyone looked over to her, slightly shocked that she knew so much about the topic. She was a rather big fan of thermonuclear astrophysics and well most of the physics' in general. Laura downcast her eyes at the attention whilst Tony smirked and gestured towards where Laura and Bruce were standing next to each other  
"Finally, people who speak English." The billionaire made his way over to them and outstretched his hand for Laura to shake "Miss Harper, it's a pleasure. I hear you are quite the engineering genius, much like myself." he then moved over to Bruce "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster." Bruce gives him a funny look before giving an unsure  
"Thanks."

"Doctor Banner and Miss Harper are only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join them." Fury announced to Tony, who gave a shrug which said _yeah, why not._ Satisfied with the answer, steve and Fury went on to discuss more about the Tesseract, however the man lost Thor with a Wizard of Oz reference that Rogers took pride in understanding. Tony turned to his two fellow geeks, now bored with the meeting "Shall we play?"  
"Right this way, sir." Bruce gestured to the hallway as all three of them exited the room to track down the Cube.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

The three of them entered the lab at the same time three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents set down Tony's tech. The agents saluted at Laura before leaving, this got her two weird looks from their companions. "I don't know why they still do that? I'm not even a commander." They both smirked and nodded their eyes at the woman before they all moved forward to help Tony set up his gear.

Within the first few minutes of being in a room with Tony, he had noticed the thing on Laura's back and he definitely wasn't going to let it go. Bruce helped with the explanation and by the end of it Tony had more questions than he did at first. What was it made of? What else could she do? Would she turn into a lady hulk? Could she lift Thor's hammer? The man turned into a child in seconds.

After trying to answer the billionaire's questions as best she could, the three of them settled into a smooth routine where they all had something to do which would help them track the tesseract and monitor Loki's sceptre. The trio worked as though they had known each other their whole lives.

The three of them just seemed to work, like one mind built from three very different people. Bruce's quietness was counteracted by Tony's cocky nature and Laura was the perfect anchor for them both. A good balance to keep them grounded. Well that's what she thought anyway.

Whilst the woman was tapping away at one of the screens, Tony and Bruce were whispering in a corner. Of course she wanted to know what they were talking about, but after being around S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, she knew that she'd never be able to know about everything that was going on around her. That didn't mean she had to like it though.

Over in the corner, Tony was informing Bruce about what was going on. "JARVIS is running the decryption right now, do you think we should get some answers from her? She is head engineer after all. She _has_ to know something." The billionaire argued to the man next to him. Bruce just gave him an unsure look.  
"I don't know Tony, we could just wait for JARVIS to finish. She has been through a lot."  
"Look, I promise I won't be a dick about it, but the suspense is killing me." The man made his final argument before Bruce gave up and decided to let Tony do whatever he wanted. It wasn't like he could stop the man anyway.

Casually, the engineer walked over to the woman, who looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Yes Tony?"  
"What are S.H.I.E.L.D. planning to do with the Tesseract?" he replied bluntly. Bruce just face palmed where he was standing, _smooth Tony._ Laura gave him a confused look  
"Excuse me?"  
"Oh come on. You practically invented half of the tech on this ship and your telling me you don't know _anything_ about what's going on with the Cube?"  
"Tony. I'm an engineer, not an agent. Romanoff has more clearance than I do. I know about as much as you do. We are tracking the Tesseract to keep it out of harmful hands which could use it against us." The woman replied defensively, standing her ground. The man continued to look at her for a moment more before smirking and nodding his head.  
"Fine, I believe you." He circled the woman before coming to a stop again "Are you as curious about this whole Tesseract thing as we are?" Laura thought for a moment before reluctantly nodding her head, what was Stark up to? "Good." Swiftly, the billionaire launched into the explanation of the conversation he and Bruce had.

"So, you in?" rubbing her chin in thought, Laura mulled over what Tony had told her and decided that her curiosity was getting the better of her. For once she could _finally_ understand what was going on around her. How could she not take this opportunity.  
"Fine." With a triumphant grin, the man walked back over to his own station where he continued his work on looking for the Tesseract.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Bruce was scanning Loki's sceptre whilst staring at one of the glass screens, reading the results of the scan. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract… But it's going to take weeks to process." Well it surely would've done if they didn't have Tony Stark working with them. That man's gadgets could do just about anything. Stark gave a quick explanation on how they could track the cube within a matter of days. Laura and Bruce nodded in understanding and watched as Tony walked over to them. 

"You know, you should both come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land." The female engineer looked at the man with a small smile and a nod  
"You know, I might just have to take you up on that offer one day, Stark. I could do with a day away from S.H.I.E.L.D." The pair then turned to Bruce expectantly.  
"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke… Harlem." Laura gave the scientist's arm a supportive pat before Tony went on to be cheeky and reckless. Laughing internally, the woman was starting to wonder if the man had any other traits.

The fun didn't last long when Captain America himself came storming in after witnessing Tony's reckless poking at Bruce. "Hey!" the soldier shouted. "Are you nuts?" giving the soldier a quick side glance he replied  
"Jury's out." Laura chuckled quietly at Stark's response, which got her a pointed look from the Captain. Whilst Tony, went back to joking around with Banner. "You really have got a lid on it haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Bruce smirked at Tony's questions whilst he continued working on the sceptre. Steve and Tony quickly began to butt heads and have a small argument. Rogers clearly didn't like Tony's attitude towards, well, anything.

However Tony soon found a way to bring Steve into the science trio's little quest to find S.H.I.E.L.D.S. true motives for the Tesseract. He also found a way to bring the two people, who'd stayed quiet throughout most of the exchange, into the conversation. Quickly though, things between Stark and Rogers got tense again. Bruce and Laura just stayed off to the side, watching the little spat. However, Laura, for some reason, felt the need to cut the chat short after Stark made a rude jab at the soldier. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." The man glanced at her before looking back at Tony and then at the door, that stiffness not leaving his shoulders.  
"Just find the cube." And without another word, the soldier left them to it.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Once Steve made his exit and the three geniuses got back to work, the captain soon became the starting topic of their conversation. However the mood quickly changed to tense when the conversation became based around the Hulk. Banner was far from fond of his 'terrible privilege', as Stark put it.

After finalising their search on the Tesseract, Tony's main screen beeped a small alarm at them all "The moment of truth ladies and gentlemen." They quickly rushed over to the terminal which displayed the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. Laura had to admit that she did feel extremely bad for hacking into her own workplace, but she had worked for them for so, so long and she was still kept in the dark. Even about the things she designed weapons for. She wanted to know what the big fuss was about because right now, nothing was adding up, and Laura liked to know what she was dealing with.

Tony scrolled through file after file until they came across what they were searching for. Everything and anything related to the Tesseract. There was a lot. There were all of these 'Phases', artifacts etc. Stark and Banner were right. Fury was hiding something from them, a huge something in fact.

As if thinking of the man summoned him, the director came powerwalking in. He must've caught wind of the hacking. "What are you doing Mr Stark?" Harper and Banner stood behind Tony supportively, giving Fury questioning looks.  
"Kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Stark retorted  
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."  
"We are." Laura replied bluntly before Bruce continued her point  
"The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature right now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." The scientist pointed to one of Tony's computers for emphasis.  
"Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss… What is 'Phase 2'?" Stark questioned. That was the moment Cap chose to walk in with a rather large gun in hand. Aggressively, Rogers slammed the weapon onto the table, grabbing everyone's attention. Laura's eyes widened at the sight of the gun.  
"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."  
"Rogers we gathered everything related to the Tesserac-"  
"Wait a second... that weapon. Fury that's one of my old, stupid, 'shouldn't ever be created' designs! What the hell are you doing with it? In fact how did you even get it?" The woman questioned, quickly becoming agitated "let me get this straight, you went behind my back, stole my sketches, my personal ideas, and used them to create weapons of mass destruction?!" Laura's eyes shone a much more vibrant, deep blue in her anger. She walked around the table and came to a stop directly in front of her superior, who didn't waver in the slightest at the young, powered woman in front of him.  
"That does not mean that we're making…"  
"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Tony asked sarcastically as he spins one of the transparent screens around to show the director. With a fake chuckle, the woman in the room threw her hands up in the air  
" _Another_ one of my designs, Fury. Really"  
"I was wrong director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve stated to the man in charge. Seconds later, Romanoff and Thor came strolling in, completely unaware of the current argument, aside from what they could over hear from the hallway.

Tensions in the room skyrocketed. Everyone was arguing with everyone. Stark and Rogers. Fury, Thor and Harper. Romanoff and Banner. It was stupid. They had a mass murdering God in their basement and there they stood, bickering like children.

Things got way more heated than anyone anticipated. Especially when Bruce began to talk about his failed suicide attempt. None of them knew about that. Laura cast a pain-filled glance at Bruce. The scientist didn't want to hurt anyone and yet he was constantly getting dragged back into the middle of chaotic situations. In his angered rant, Banner had picked up Loki's sceptre and had it with a knuckle-whitening grasp. He was quickly snapped out of his rage when the computer beeped, signalling the location of the Cube. "Sorry kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all."

Bruce was checking the results whilst Steve and Tony went back to bitching at each other, again. Natasha walked over to Bruce, just as Thor was making an argument as to why he should be the one to go and get the Tesseract.

Laura just stood there, in the middle of everything. Why was she even there? There was so much feud and testosterone in the room that it was getting hard to breathe. But what snapped the woman out of her thoughts was a bang in the distance. Her new powers must've upped her reflexes since she heard it a few seconds before everyone else. Suddenly, she began to scream at them "look ou-!" she pulled Fury down in time, just before the blast hit. Everyone was thrown separate ways. Debris raining down around them.

Loki's men were here…

Barton was here.

 **A/N: Dun dun dunnnnn.** **Yeah ok so cliff-hanger, apologies guys! Hope you liked this chapter and I apologise for all that dialogue. But it was necessary for the story. If you enjoyed this chapter then leave a review with your thoughts. Thanks for reading.**


	4. This Means War

When We Stand Together chapter 4

Chapter Title: **This Means War**

 **A/N:** **And I'm back! Here's chapter 4 people. Hope you enjoy it!**

 **Review replies:**

 **-fezwearingjellybanana: hehe yup Clinton is looming in the shadows. Will he reveal himself? Hmm looks like you're gonna have to read on to find out.**

Coughing, Laura moved her head timidly, trying to take in her surroundings. She saw Fury just beside her, beginning to snap out of the explosion haze himself. "Laura, you good?" the director grasped the woman's shoulder and looked straight at her to see if she was okay.  
"Yeah" the reply came out strangled, dry and uncertain but it was good enough for now since Fury went straight onto his earpiece to find out what was going on. The engineer used this time to bring herself back to the present.

Once her vision cleared, the woman turned towards Fury who was giving orders so they could fix this mess as quickly as possible. Still talking, Fury offered a hand to Laura who took it and followed the man straight to the main deck of the ship.

Soldiers dashed past them, readying themselves for an inevitable battle. Fury was unaffected whereas Laura, watched each agent go with worry. She wasn't used to this like the others were.

They were almost at their destination when the director quickly pulled out a matte black hand gun and held it in front of Laura. "You know how to use one of these?" The engineer studied the weapon quickly before reluctantly grasping the thing in her hand.  
"Only the basics. Your two assassins made me do a training day once." And despite the situation, the man gave a small smirk at that.  
"You should be just fine then."

Finally they reached the control deck, Fury went running to his spot whilst Laura veered off to the side to go stand out of the way. Harper did a full sweep of the room and could barely keep up. Everything was moving a mile a minute. People were running around from one station to another. Shouting could be heard from every direction. Fingertips were flying across keyboards in an attempt to do something, anything, to help the situation. It was chaos.

Maria seemed to have a spare second since she came walking over to Laura. The commander came to a stop in front of her and held out a small earpiece "It's already tuned into the right frequency. You will only be able to hear me, Fury, Coulson, Stark, Rogers and Romanoff"  
"Got it. Thanks." Awkwardly, Laura started fiddling the tiny thing into her ear whilst Maria left to do her job.

Victoriously, Laura smiled at her achievement of fitting the device into her ear. She could hear Tony and Steve working together to fix the engine and her smile brightened a little more. It was good to know that even though the pair had their differences, when it mattered, they could work together.

Maria continued to walk away when she suddenly shouted "Grenade!" and launched herself over the side rail and took cover behind the computers. Automatically, Laura shielded her eyes from the blast and watched as Fury took out his Glock and cocked the pistol before moving to hide behind a small wall. The engineer took this as a sign to ready her own weapon, which she did. It wasn't like she needed the thing though, Fury was kicking ass. Well he was until one soldier came around the corner whilst the director was distracted, all Fury could do was duck. Luckily, his deputy had good aim and saved him from a possibly fatal injury.

The director jogged back to where Maria and Laura were crouched behind cover. The two higher ups were firing shot after shot at the endless waves of soldiers. The engineer did her best but she never got a shot on target. Deep down, she knew her aim wasn't half bad, but she wasn't a soldier, she knew some of those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that were being shot down and she didn't want their blood on her hands.

Frustrated, she dropped the handgun onto the ground were it clanked against the metal flooring. "I can't do this" she said more to herself than anyone else, but Hill heard her and spared a second to look at the woman next to her. Laura's hands were grasping the sides of her head, probably her way of trying to clear her head, Maria thought to herself. However there wasn't much time to think as a new wave of soldiers started shooting at them with everything they had. The deputy director ducked back down behind her cover and looked at the woman next to her again, hoping she was okay.

Suddenly, the Laura's hands abandoned her head and she stood to her full height in the midst of the small gun fight. As if she realised something that was big enough to shock her into action. Without hesitating, Laura pulled her right arm in by her side before launching it out in front of her. The energy from her spine pulsated and sent a blue surge from her hands all the way to the enemy. Maria just watched, astounded with the woman's new found power, and slightly shocked about how much that attack resembled Loki's beams from the sceptre.

It was like a bowling alley. Those soldiers were the pins and Laura just got a strike. Four of them went flying backwards into a wall or each other, knocking them out and leaving them out of the battle. It was effective and no one had to die. Hill just shared a look with Fury, which again didn't last long when an explosion went off at the left side of the room. Laura's head spun around at the sound, she recognised it instantly, knowing exactly who was there in the shadows "Clint" she breathed to herself. Another explosion went off and she just about caught a glimpse of the archer before Fury fired a couple of warning shots to scare the man off. At least she hoped they were warning shots. The director didn't miss the quick glare the engineer set on him before they went back to focus on the battle.

Well that was pretty hard to do since Barton's last arrow hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computer systems and off-lined another engine. Sending the helicarrier into an uncontrolled descent. The gun fire had stopped and everyone was back to running around, trying to fix the problem. But it was a futile effort. Stark was their only hope at getting an engine running again.

Fury called Laura over and the woman did her best to make her way to him without falling over "Harper, now I know you can pack a punch, I need you to back up Coulson. Go find him."  
"Yes, sir." She then left and set off to complete her very first mission. This should be interesting.

Stumbling through the halls Laura suddenly remembered about the device in her ear. She raised her hand to the device "Coulson, what's your location? I'm coming to back you up." She waited for an answer. It took about two minutes for the man to reply, leaving Laura in a panicked state  
"Loki's… Loki's cell. He's gone…" Phil's voice was drained, as if speaking had taken all the energy out of him. Despite the fact that the helicarrier was swaying, Laura broke into a sprint, trying to reach Coulson as soon as she could.

After running as fast as she could through the corridors, dodging people everywhere. Laura barged through the heavy detention cell door with more ease than she thought possible for her. Pushing that thought aside, she looked around the room for Phil, she couldn't see him. She began to panic again, until she spotted a hand around the corner. Quickly, she rushed over to it and found Coulson, slumped against a wall with a classified weapon in his grasp. He managed to give the woman a small smile but she wasn't fooled, she saw the blood dripping from his mouth and seeping through his usually pristine shirt. "Oh my god, Phil. What… What happened?" He didn't need to answer, she knew exactly what happened as she removed the gun from his grasp and took his hand in hers. In her head, she knew she was too late, but she denied it as much as possible. Her vision began to blur from the tears threatening to overflow. "Man down. Fury I repeat man down, send the medics." Her voice was shaky as she communicated through the comm link "You're going to be just fine Phil."

That was the moment when it hit her that this was all real. All this alien crap, this war. It was happening. People were dead and more people are going to die. Laura couldn't hold the tears back any longer, they silently fell down her face.

Coulson looked up at the woman before him. Even with the tears, he knew just how strong she had become. She had come so far, he thinks back to that first day he met her. A teenage girl looking to belong. Looking at her now, he knew that she'd have that now. With the others. With her husband. With the Avengers. Everything she ever wanted was going to be right there in front of her and he couldn't be more happy. He would do this ten times over if it meant he could save the real heroes like her.

Mustering up as much energy as he could, Coulson squeezed Laura's hand in what he hoped was reassurance. "Laura…" Sniffiling and blinking back tears, she managed to look at him "I know… What you're thinking and i… I have to, to tell you that this isn't your fault. It was… Loki. He did all of this. So don't blame… yourself." The man was out of breath by the time he finished his speech, the woman just nodded, not trusting her own voice to answer. "I'm so… so proud of the woman… you've become. You're going to be a… hero. Really you… You already are." He gave her that smile again and she willed her voice to work.  
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you Phil. Thank you. For… for everything." The end came out as a sob as the tears began to flow freely again.

Director Fury was suddenly by her side, looking down at Coulson who, even in the face of death, managed to be all business. "Sorry boss. The God rabbited." But right now, Nick didn't care, all he cared about was Coulson making it out of this.  
"Just stay awake. Eyes on me."  
"No, I'm clocking out here." The man breathed in self-understanding, he knew his fate and had come to terms with it.  
"Not an option." Nick replied sternly.  
"It's okay boss. This… This was never gonna work, if they didn't have something to…" Coulson never got to finish his sentence. A choked sob feel from Laura's mouth as she buried her head in her hands. She felt Fury place a supportive hand on her shoulder as he too bowed his head at the fate of his most trusted agent and friend.

Finally, the medics arrived but it was too little too late. The director pulled the engineer up from the floor to allow the medics room to work. He knew it was too late but he let them work anyway. Everything was falling apart but Phil was right, he knew what he had to do to bring the team together, to create the Avengers. Coulson always believed in heroes protecting the earth from the things S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't and Fury was going to carry on that dream for him.

Finally, Fury called it in over the comms. "Agent Coulson is down." Just hearing the words made it seem even more real than before.  
"A medical team is on its way to your location." An agent replied to his superior.  
"They're here… They called it."

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Sitting around a table was Steve, Tony and Laura. The only three Avengers remaining, aside from Romanoff who was currently busy with something. God knows what the spy was up to but right now, Laura didn't have it in her to care. Everything was such a mess.

Fury stood at the head of the conference table, looking at the three of them. He averted his gaze to what was in his hands "These were in Phil Coulson's jacket… I guess he never did get you to sign them." He then chucked the trading cards onto the table, fresh blood lining the crisp, worn, aged edges of the merchandise. Steve just stared at them as he picked one up. His own face from back in the 1940's, tinted burgundy and his shield was hidden from view by the scarlet liquid.

Tony could barely lift his head to face the situation, his chair was swivelled away from the table. Laura sat there not knowing what to think and Steve held that card in his hand, observing it, a defeated look in his eye. Fury was telling them how he had nothing to offer them. They were dead in the air with no communications and no location on Banner and Thor. He admitted to his plan to build weapons with the Tesseract. But despite his plans he then went on to talk about the Avengers initiative, a group of remarkable people who could become something more. A team that could come together and fight the battles they never could. At the mention of Phil's belief in the idea, Tony shifted in his seat at the agents name. But it was apparently too much for Tony since he stood up from his seat and left the room without a word. Leaving Harper and Rogers behind with Fury. The director also made an exit to leave the pair alone.

Slowly, Steve looked over at Laura who was doing her best to keep her emotions in check. The captain placed a hand on the women's shoulder. She just sniffed her tears away and looked up at the captain. There was no pity in his eyes, only strength and belief. Belief that they could make Coulson's idea a reality. Belief that they could save the world from Loki and his army.

Another realisation hit Laura then. Steve was looking at her as a teammate. As a soldier. As a fellow Avenger. He thought of her as the same league as the others. He wanted her there in the field with them. "Steve, I… I don't know how much use I'll be. I still don't even know what I can do. I've never fought a war before." he just gave her a small smile

"Maybe that's just what we need, some uncertainty. A wild card. You don't need to be a soldier to be a hero." They shared a look until Laura sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, pushing her brown hair out of the way. She gave a small nod and the captain sat back in his seat. _One down_ he thought to himself.

Eventually Steve left, probably to find Tony, which mean Laura was sitting there not knowing what to do. Well that was until an agent told her to follow him to one of the detention cells. After he told her that Natasha sent him, she agreed and followed the young man until they were outside the correct room. He instructed her to knock and wait for Nat to open the door, he then made a swift exit which left the engineer waiting.

About a minute later, the door opened to reveal the red headed spy, who nodded for her to go inside and she did, slightly confused by the situation. Well that was until she saw the man sitting on the bed "Clint" she said softly.

 **A/N: And that's that. We got the gang back together (transformers quote. Sorry). Hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did then please pretty please leave a review. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your day.**


	5. See You At The Show

When We Stand Together chapter 5

Chapter title: **See You At The Show**

 **A/N:** **Hello everyone! I'm sorry about the wait, I've had the busiest few weeks. I had my birthday on the 3** **rd** **along with sports day, then my practice Duke of Edinburgh award so that weekend I had no time, then I had a week of work experience which left me shattered so I took the weekend after off so I could get ready for my last week of school before the summer. And I've just had another French assessment and I've had to finish my Enterprise coursework for the year. Along with a mountain of computer issues which I had to fix.**

 **But I did just have London film and comic con on Saturday which was awesome so I apologise for not fixing my computer and posting this then but I was out and about.**

 **Everything has just been hectic but summer is here which means PLENTY of writing time for me! But I'm gonna focus a bit more on my Sons of Anarchy fic at first since I've been neglecting it for a while. Have no fear though, I'll be back writing this in no time. Anyway, enough of me rambling and venting at you. Just thought I'd explain my absence and give you a warning that the next update might take a little while.**

 **Anyways, enjoy some fluff here guys! Come on, I know you've been waiting ;)**

 **Review Replies:**

 **-fezwearingjellybananas:** Ik! I have a deep love for Phil Coulson so writing that scene killed me. But I'm an agents of SHIELD fan so I know a way to work that into the story line. Aha yup. Laura has A LOT of power in that spine of hers, so she has a bit of discovering to do. Thanks again for your frequent reviews, they really help :-)

"Clint."

The sound of his name broke through the storm raging in his mind and his head flew up. He could recognise that voice anywhere. "Laura. Thank God."

Barton barely had time to scramble to his feet before Laura launched herself at him. Instantly he felt her arms wrap around his neck, clinging on for dear life. He then wasted no time in winding his arms around her waist and pulling her flush against him, before burying his head in her neck. She was his anchor and he knew she would keep him grounded, just like she always had.

But something didn't feel quite right. Beneath his hands, Clint could feel the exoskeleton lining the centre of her back. It was strange and out of place but Clint couldn't care less. She could turn red and start glowing and he wouldn't love her any less. He was just happy she was safe wrapped in his arms and hadn't died at his or Loki's hand.

After breathing in the coconut smell that always lingered in Laura's hair, the man moved back so he could look at the woman that he couldn't imagine his life without. "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered, taking her hands in his.

Laura simply smiled up at him and stared into his eyes like she had always done. But instead of the deep chocolate eyes that normally gazed at him with love, a brilliant blue sparkled in their place and caught him momentarily off guard. She had changed in so many ways in the few weeks they had been separated. _Why hadn't I been there for her?_ She was the part of his life that shouldn't have been effected by his choice in career.

Too lost in his own thoughts, Clint had let his face fall into a frown. Once she noticed his furrowed brow and the wrinkles that had set deep into his forehead, Laura averted her gaze and stared at the floor, a panic beginning to rise inside her that she hadn't expected to feel once being reunited with Clint. _Oh god, what's he thinking?_

She slipped her hands out from his and pushed away quickly, turning away to face the wall. All she had been able to think about since she'd escaped Loki was finally returning to Clint and the idea of Clint despising her after what she had become hadn't crossed her mind until now.

"I get it you know. If you don't want to be with me anymore I'll understand. I'm not natural. I'm not the woman you fell in love with anymore."

Clint could think of nothing to say. He was shocked. Knowing it was the only way to make her see how wrong she was, he gripped her shoulders tightly, pulled her towards him and pressed his lips to hers. Instantly she relaxed and melted in his arms, whilst he poured all the love he had for her into the kiss. It was intense and when Laura finally leaned back to look in the archer's eyes, she was out of breath and unable to speak, just as Clint had hoped. "I haven't got a damn clue what you're going on about. I'll always love you Laura," he told her sincerely, "You really think Loki experimenting on you is going to change that? Nat briefed me a little on what happened and if it did anything it made me love you more. You're so strong and I'm so proud of you. Look… no matter what happens now or in fifty years. Nothing will get in the way of us. I married you for a reason you know."

Still unable to find the words to express how she felt, she settled for looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Laura was ashamed she had even dared to think he couldn't love her – this was her and Clint. Of course he wouldn't leave her over something like this! She shook her head. "You must think I'm being so stupid."

He rolled his eyes and rested his head in the crook of her neck. "Of course not," he whispered, stroking her back around the exoskeleton, "When you became a part of my life you never signed up for any of this and I wouldn't have been surprised if you had completely broken down in front of me."

Laura had almost forgotten how easily he could comfort her and she wondered why she hadn't realised how much she had missed him until now. As soon as his head lifted from her shoulder, she guided his face by his chin until they were millimetres apart.

This time when their lips locked, Clint's familiar chapped lips moved against hers, slower and more intimately than they had before. Instinctively, her hand went to his head and she ran her fingers through the man's short, rough hair whilst his hand worked its way to her hip, pulling her closer. A great weight lifted from Laura's shoulders and suddenly she was in heaven, floating amongst the clouds without a care in the world. Somehow, after all these years, Clint still managed to make her feel like she was falling in love with him all over again. He made her feel like she was still a love struck teenager, and she adored every second of it.

When they finally broke apart, she rested her forehead against his. "I'm so sorry. I know you're not going anywhere. Besides," she gave him a tiny smirk, "I'd put up too much of a fight to let you just walk away."

He chuckled softly at her words. "Don't I know it."

After separating himself from her, Clint went to get washed up which left Laura to call the other master assassin back in. The engineer poked her head out of the door and spotted the Russian and beckoned her inside again.

"Natasha." The red head looked up at Laura, waiting for what she was going to say. "Thank you. For getting him back and for saving me. I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am." The spy let one of her rare smiles slip for the woman before her. She'd known Laura for a long, long time now. She was the only person, other than Clint, that she really considered a friend.  
"Don't thank me. I was just doing my job." Laura understood that she should stop the praise and thanks there and accept that what Natasha said was the closest she would get to a 'you're welcome'.

Just as the spy was explaining what happened during the mini battle they just had, Steve Rogers walked in and looked at the women sitting side by side. "Time to go. Both of you." Natasha's expression never changed, even when she questioned the captain.  
"Go where?"  
"I'll tell you on the way. Can either of you fly one of those jets?"  
"I can." They all turned to face the newly emerged Clint. Cap wasn't too fazed, however he did look at the women for their reassurance. The Russian's nod was all he needed.  
"You got a suit?" Clint shrugged nonchalantly  
"Yeah."  
"Then suit up." The super soldier then made a swift exit and left the trio to get ready.

Promptly, Barton finished drying himself off and made his way back into the main room. "I gotta stop off at my locker quickly, what about you Nat?" the Russian looked at him  
"Armoury." The woman replied shortly. Clint didn't take any offense, it was just how she spoke before and during missions.  
"Uh, guys I kinda need a change of clothes."  
"What for?... Wait a second. You're not coming are you?"  
"Well yeah. I am." At his wife's reply, the archer shot a look at his best friend who just shrugged. "Clint, before you start tearing down half the helicarrier just listen. As much as I didn't ask for it, I have some form of power now and you guys need all the help you can get." She could see the anger on the man's face but she knew that he wasn't truly angry. He just used the emotion to hide his fear and worry for her.  
"Have you even learnt how to control it? Or what you're even capable of?"  
"No time like the present" Laura stares at her husband and she watched him fight his internal battle.

He knew what it was like out there and as much as he didn't want to baby Laura, he did want to keep her safe. It seemed like he'd been failing in that mission lately…

Taking a deep breath, the man gave a reluctant nod. "Alright fine, but you gotta do as we say alright? I'm not losing you again…" the man looked straight into her eyes to show her the sincerity he felt with those words. However, in the blink of an eye he broke the eye contact and went straight back to business. "Nat, you still got your old S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform?" the spy gave a sharp nod "Alright, you two go and I'll meet you in the armoury with Cap." Everyone went their separate ways.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

After quickly stopping off in Natasha's rather small room, Laura changed and the pair headed off to the armoury. The outfit change made Laura start to reconsider her job position at S.H.I.E.L.D. Those suits were surprisingly comfy and flexible. Much nicer than her too-big jumpsuit she has to wear at HQ.

Finally down in the armoury, Black Widow went through her speedy routine of checking her pistols whilst the engineer ran off to a unit within the room and went through a ridiculously thorough security check to unlock the shielded shelf.

Once the metal casing began to raise, Laura began scanning the shelf for her choice item. A triumphant "ah-ha" escaped the woman as she grasped her weapon.  
"New invention?" Natasha had snuck up on the woman and caused her to jump out of her skin  
"Jesus Nat. Would it kill you to give me a little warning when you do that." The woman just smirked in reply and scanned the rest of the shelf herself. "And to answer your question. It kind of is, it's only a prototype but it's an advanced play on Clint's arrow handle. It's a staff which responds to different finger gestures so say I did this" Laura positioned her fingers along the smooth, bronze coloured staff and the spy watched as the thing extended into a sturdy bō "The weapon would adapt. It has loads of different weapon features and it's even adjusted its weight so it's not too heavy for me. She's my pride and joy. Spent over a year on just her design. I had it shipped here shortly after I finished building it, but I never got round to teaching anyone how to use it."

Romanoff shook her head light-heartedly at the engineer's enthusiasm. Even she had to admit that it wasn't too shabby a weapon. The woman had a right to get all excited about her project, she knew how much Laura loved her job and that sense of achievement she got when she finished a project.

The spy was interrupted from her thoughts when her friend spoke up again "Oh wait, I almost forgot." Hurriedly, Laura began shuffling through a draw at the bottom of the shelf "I was going to wait until your birthday but I think this situation calls for it. Happy let's-go-fight-a-psychotic-God day." In the engineer's outstretched hands were a pair of upgraded widow bites. "I didn't change much, I just added in a little something so you can shoot shock pellets as well as use them in hand to hand combat. I also strengthened their power to give them an extra kick. Which I think will be necessary when fighting an alien army." Natasha picked her signature weapons up to test their weight and true to Laura's word, they hadn't changed at all. She quickly swapped them with her old ones and watched them light up against her wrist "Just tap them twice with two fingers and they'll fire."  
"Got it… Thanks" Laura smiled at the woman  
"Don't thank me. I'm just doing my job." Natasha rolled her eyes at the woman who decided to throw her own words back at her.

After their little friendly exchange, the pair went back to readying themselves for the inevitable battle ahead. Laura grabbed the staff's sheath and strapped it to the right side of her back. Whilst Natasha went about putting her weapons in their holsters and prepping one for the engineer, who had to be taught how to put a holster on her leg.

Just as they finished, Hawkeye and Cap came walking in, all business. Steve looked at them all "Stark is going to meet us there. You ready to go?" they each nodded and followed the soldier to one of the Quinn-jet hangers.

The four heroes strode confidently through the hanger, never pausing to look around at anything or anyone. They had their missions, their goals. Nothing could distract them from it.

Steve, in full costume, led them all into a Quinn jet which had a young rookie worker inside. Laura knew the kid, she was pretty sure she was present during his interview.

As the kid looked up at them all, he did his best to stand his ground like a true agent, however his voice came out uneven and far from stern. "Hey-y, you guys aren't authorised to be in here." And as respectful as the super soldier was, he had no time for asking politely.  
"Son, just don't." Steve said with the exact confidence the kid wished he had. Knowing he was fighting a losing battle he decided to not argue with Captain America, S.H.I.E.L.D's two best spies and his highest boss.

Soon after the rookie's departure, the group settled in, Clint and Natasha up front with Steve and Laura behind, looking for ways to balance themselves during the flight. This was it. They were really flying head first into the middle of a war.

A war they _had_ to win.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

 **A/N: And that's that. We are finally running into the battle of New York. And we even had some Claura love at the beginning. What more could you want? Anyway thanks for reading and this summer I am going to do my very best to keep on top of everything so I can fire weekly updates at you. Right I'm out but leave a review with your opinions and shiz. They inspire me to write :-)**


	6. Never Gonna Be Alone

When We Stand Together chapter 6

Chapter Title: **Never Gonna Be Alone**

 **A/N:** **Hey everyone. Thanks for coming back again. So this is more of a filler chapter but we are smack bang in the middle of the battle of New York now so yay. This story is picking up some steam. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter**

 **Review Replies:**

 **-fezwearingjellybananas: Hey. Thanks and thanks again! God I don't know how you did the silver? Im struggling with the Bronze XD. And thanks for understanding about not always having time. Gotta love some Claura and I'm glad you like Laura and Nat's friendship. Here is the fight with the aliens, ENJOY!**

 **WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…**

After a few technical difficulties, the team finally reached Manhattan. Natasha commed Tony to give him some warning "Stark, we're on your three. Headed north east."  
"What did you stop for drive-through?" the man replied, obviously agitated as if he was in the middle of battle. Which he probably was "Swing up park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Clint smoothly and strategically flew in-between buildings, never stopping to slow down or to dodge objects. He was precise, as always, as he flew them to their goal. Spinning, the machine gun which emerged from the bottom of the aircraft, readied itself for the oncoming enemy. Natasha had her hands ready to fire at the first glimpse of their target.

A flash of light, which they were sure was Iron Man, flew past and following it was the Chitauri. Without hesitating, agent Romanoff shot them down whilst Clint flew around the corner and up towards Stark Tower.

On the balcony behind the brightly lit words of the tower, Loki and Thor were battling one another. Loki's sceptre came down hard on the lighting God, who quickly deflected the blow with his hammer. However the defence caused him to lose sight of one of his brother's hands. Loki grabbed his half-brother by his cape and smashed him into the glass railing of the balcony. Not one to be defeated so easily, Thor was back on his feet and fighting Loki once more.

"Nat?"  
"I see him." Clint caught sight of the battle and swiftly moved the Quinjet so they were at a good vantage point for Natasha to fire on Loki. Which she did quite happily after the God threw Thor onto the floor. It seemed the frost giant wasn't too fond of their plan since he sent a deadly glare at the aircraft and send a burst of power from his sceptre towards the Quinjet. The four had to reluctantly admit that Loki had annoyingly good aim since he took down one of the engines, causing them to fall towards the roads of New York.

Steve and Laura weren't all that prepared for the shot and were jolted in the cabin. Laura was just about to fall when a strong arm grabbed onto her and pulled her back into place. "Hold on." Rogers instructed. Deciding that she'd rather not get thrown about, Laura latched her arms around the Captain's waist whilst he held onto a railing on the ceiling of the cabin.

Sides of buildings were smashed as Clint did his best to try and land the Quinjet without killing everyone inside of it. Luckily for the team, the archer was a skilled pilot and crashed them into a plaza. Civilians were unharmed and so were they. That was the first time Laura was extremely thankful for those long weeks of Clint's flight training.

The ramp at the back of the air craft lowered and the four passengers jogged out and onto the damaged streets. They each looked up to take in the scene. Smoke flowed from blasted cars, buildings were missing chunks, small flames were scattered around the broken roads, aliens whizzed past overhead whilst blowing up anything in their path. It was chaos. "We got to get back up there." Steve stated, gesturing to Stark tower whilst running through the wrecked roads, the others hot on his heels.

Above Tony's home was a blue portal, the same blue as Laura's eyes and the same blue as the tesseract. The earth's soft sky contrasted the never ending darkness of space within the portal. But that wasn't what stopped the four in their tracks. It was what was emerging from it that froze them. Behind another wave of aliens was a giant, sentient, flying ship. It was like the Chitauri tamed one of their sharks, if they even had sharks, and stuck a load of armour on it. The thing flew down the side of Stark tower and straight over them, ejecting Chitauri warriors which latched onto the sides of buildings and roared a battle cry.

Doing a full circle to take in the situation, Cap lifted a finger to his ear "Stark, you seeing this?"  
"Seeing, still working on believing." The billionaire replied in all their ears. "Where's banner? Has he shown up yet?"  
"Banner?" the captain asked with a puzzled expression  
"Just keep me posted."

After the thrilling conversation with Tony, the team took cover behind some abandoned cabs whilst Cap and Hawkeye did a small check of the area. They needed to know what they were dealing with. "We've got civilians still trapped up here." Clint tells them whilst trying to process everything and catch his breath. Well he didn't have much time since a small team of Chitauri flew over them, blowing up whatever remaining surroundings there were. But it wasn't just a team of Chitauri, it was a team lead by Loki.

Steve peaked over the hood of the cab to check on the situation below the bridge. He looks at the citizens of New York. Women and children running and screaming for their lives, agonised screams of pain from wounds, but the worst was the emptiness on some faces as the stared down at lost loved ones.

Rogers gave his head a small shake and made himself focus once more "They're fish in a barrel down there." Just as the words left his mouth, a team of alien foot soldiers fired blast after blast at them. Natasha rose to her feet and dealt the same thing back whilst Clint and Laura moved to cover which was a little less crowded.  
"We've got this. It's good. Go." The Russian directed at the Captain  
"Do you think you can hold them off?" the man looked to Hawkeye  
"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Clint replied with a smirk as he selected his first trick shot arrow. With a fearlessness that came from years of training and merciless missions, the archer rose to his feet and in one swift movement, he removed the arrow from the quiver, loaded it and pulled the bow string back. The arrow landed dead centre of a Chitauri's forehead, which would've been a great shot, but what made it better was the sequence of tiny bullets which fired out at the surrounding enemy. He never misses.

"Laura on me. We're gonna get those people out of that bus. Nat cover us." The redhead nodded as she continued to fire on the enemy. Clint looked over to his wife "You good? Because now would be a great time to see what you've got."  
"I'm fine. Let's do this." Barton smirked at her reply. _That's my girl._

With a quick nod, the pair sprinted towards the bus which was holding the civilians captive in the middle of the war zone. "Laura, the windows."  
"On it!" remembering what Bruce said, she pushed her emotions down and commanded the energy to flow from her hands. Suddenly the windows slid apart and the doors cracked open enough for Clint to reach his hands in and open them fully. The pair helped everyone out and directed them away from the fight. Laura shooed her husband back to the battle so he could help his partner out whilst she stayed behind a little longer to make sure everyone was safe.

Once the transport vehicle was evacuated, Laura re-joined the fight. The enemy were gaining on them quickly, soon it was going to be a hand to hand fight. The engineer pulled out her pistol and started firing the same as Natasha. She didn't take as _many_ Chitauri down but she did better than she thought she would.

However, just as she predicted, the enemy continued to advance which resulted in both women putting their guns away and Laura pulling out her staff. With the same ease that Clint had with his bow, the woman moved her fingers into one of the many memorized gestures and she turned the thing into an extended staff with blades on both ends. Taking in the oncoming Battle, she readied herself for the fight. She refused to be a liability.

The first few aliens were stopped by Hawkeye and Widow before they even got to her. But due to the sheer numbers, more just kept coming and they couldn't protect her forever. Laura twirled the staff in her hand before gripping it tightly in both as she took a defensive stance.

The Chitauri soldier had its gun held out before it, ready to fire. Trying her best not to hesitate, Laura knocked the weapon from the Chitauri's hand before plunging her blade into the things chest.

She may not be ready to kill _people_ just yet, but she could defend her planet from a race of murderous aliens.

The battle ventured on and Laura could safely say that she was getting her ass handed to her. She'd been shot, beaten, thrown around like a rag doll. Why the hell did she volunteer for this again? In the corner of her eye she could see the two agents taking the aliens down as if it was just a workout, like it wasn't even a big deal. Rolling her eyes, she pushed herself to her feet for the hundredth time and swiped her weapon across an enemy's chest, causing the thing to stumble backwards in pain and fall off the bridge.

Things started going well for a little bit, she took down quite a few Chitauri before getting knocked down again. But this time as she fell on her back and bit back the yelp of pain from the gravel trying to enter her wounds, she suddenly remembered about the exoskeleton lining the centre of her back. With a grin, the engineer hoped back onto her feet and held her weapon in a white knuckle grip. She concentrated on the energy and it was as if someone had flicked on a switch in her body. Her veins pulsated blue and she could see the reflection of her now even more powerful blue eyes in the bronze of her weapon.

Four Chitauri stood around her, clicking in their native language. Deciding to give it a try, Laura took a step forward and swung her weapon in one move from left to right. It seems that her theory was right. A blue line of energy was sent hurtling towards the soldiers who all flew backwards into more of their teammates and were left out for the count.

A small surge of victory filled the woman as she pushed the line of the oncoming enemy back a bit. What amplified the feeling even more was the quick, supportive wink from Clint who spared a moment to look over at her. But he was quickly back to work and so was she. Natasha had at some point stolen one of the alien's guns and was firing plasma blasts back at the Chitauri as if she had been born with the weapon in her hands.

But it was never that easy, the forces had built up again and were coming in thick and fast. "It's never ending." Laura commented as she stood in between the two assassins. They split up again to take out the enemy but it started getting out of hand. Well they thought it was until a blue, red and silver shield came aid them, the owner took out a few stray soldiers who were about to sneak up on Clint. Laura breathed a sigh of relief at the Captain's arrival, glad to know that he was ok. And to make things even better, lightning strikes zapped the remaining Chitauri right through their cores. This was followed by the God of thunder making a slightly unsteady landing before them.

Hawkeye went to collect his arrows whilst Cap and Thor shared intel "What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked  
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." The god replied before Stark joined the conversation over the comm link  
"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys."  
"How do we do this?" Natasha asked the group, to which Steve gave a simple reply  
"As a team."  
"I have unfinished business with Loki." It seemed Thor wasn't too fond of the plan  
"Yeah? Well, get in line." Clint and Laura said quickly in unison.  
"Save it. Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top. He's going to need us to…" the sound of an old motorbike engine interrupted Rogers as he turned around to inspect the noise. What none of them were expecting was a dishevelled looking Bruce Banner riding up towards them.

The man's signature shirt was dusted with smoke and debris from the surrounding battle, as was the rest of him. His brown curly hair taking on a more grey tone from the polluted atmosphere. Bruce weaved in and out of overturned cars and random flames scattered across the roads. Finally he came to a stop in front of them.

The avengers, save for Tony, walked over to greet the scientist. "So, this all seems horrible." Banner stated with his arms gesturing to the surroundings  
"I've seen worse." Natasha replied with a slight tone to her voice  
"Sorry" Bruce apologised softly, but the burning sincerity in his eyes wasn't lost on any of them  
"No, we could use a little worse."  
"Stark, we got him." Cap informed the armoured genius  
"Banner?"  
"Just like you said."  
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Okay so they weren't expecting Stark to come around the corner the second he said that. They also weren't expecting the giant shark ship thing to be following him. It was like a ridiculous game of cat and mouse.

Laura's neon eyes couldn't help but widen at the sight as her weapon fell limply at her side. He couldn't be serious? There was no way they could fight that thing. Harper's voice was frozen from shock at seeing that thing again, with the added bonus of it flying straight towards them. But Widow said the words they were all thinking. "I-I don't see how that's a party."

It seemed that the sounds of destruction the ship was making were Bruce's queue to start walking towards it. "Dr Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry." The humble scientist just continued to walk towards the alien but he spared a slightly smirking glance back at them all  
"That's my secret, captain. I'm always angry." And right before their eyes, Dr Bruce Banner transformed into the other guy in a matter of seconds and sent his powerful fist flying into the Chitauri's head causing it to flip up and over itself.

Pieces of armour began to fall off of the thing, due to the force of the blow, exposing vulnerable tissue underneath which Ironman took great advantage of. "Hold on." Everyone on the ground took that as the signal to 'take cover quickly if you don't want to be squashed'.

Rogers pulled Romanoff to his side and lifted his shield over them both whilst Thor used his arm to protect his eyes from the blast, and Laura pulled Clint to her and formed an energy barrier around them, causing the falling debris to bounce straight off. He looked up at her with a small grin "Nice." She just smiled back with a quick roll of her eyes and looked back up to the explosion next to them.

The Chitauri's ridiculously large head went tumbling off the edge of the bridge and onto the streets below. All the alien foot soldiers roared at the loss of their heavy hitter. Some even removed their face mask to reveal their snarling faces.

The avengers formed a circle so they could observe the surroundings and show the Chitauri what they're up against. A sort of display of power. Hulk responded to their cries with a booming roar of his own, the muscles in his neck straining against the exaggerated action.

As they all stood there, taking in the opposition and readying their weapons. Laura was suddenly hit with that same realisation from back at the helicarrier when Steve asked her to join them on this mission. She was one of these people around her. She was part of their team. She was helping to defend the planet from an alien invasion with her new super powers. She wasn't just an engineer anymore. She wasn't a mistaken experiment.

She was an Avenger.

 **A/N: Boom okay so that's sorted. Chapter six is fini! The rest of the battle should conclude in the next chapter but I'm not one hundred percent sure, I might have to stretch it over two chapters. But maybe not so we shall see. Thanks for reading and review with your thoughts :)**


	7. Kick A Hole In The Sky

When We Stand Together chapter 7

Chapter Title: Kick A Hole In the Sky

 **A/N:** **Hey people. Sorry about the wait. I've been trying to write my other fics but I'm having the worst case of writers block ever so I thought I'd come back to this one since I'm just following the movie for the time being. I also blame having an operation on my forehead to get rid of this messed up scar, because I couldn't bend my head and all that rubbish and my mum went all mother hen mode on me and she doesn't know I write so I couldn't do much during the first week after but I'm healing up nicely now so that means more writing. Yay!**

 **CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU DON'T WANNA KNOW, SKIP THE REST OF THIS AUTHORS NOTE!**

 **Also HAS ANYONE HEARD ABOUT THE D23 EXPO THINGY! Hawkeye and Widow have a face off that hurts me. They are best friends this shouldn't be happening! And crossbones, when talking to cap goes to him "He remembered you, you- your pal, your buddy, YOUR bucky"! I repeat, YOUR BUCKY! and VISION IS GONNA WEAR A TUX. COME ON IT'S LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO MURDER ME WITH FEELS! Wanda better jump on that XD. Okay sorry vent over. That just needed to happen because I'm drowning in feels right now and I needed to fix that. So yeah I'll stop now. Enjoy the chapter.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **-fezwearingjellybananas: Hey. I've never written an action scene before so thanks so much for the kind words. I hope I deliver just as well on the rest of the chapters :).**

 **WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER...**

As they all stood there in their team circle, they readied themselves for the next wave of soldiers. Now the team had finally assembled, they could finally use all their strengths in battle and put them to a plan to really take the enemy down once and for all.

They were all feeling pretty good after taking down that giant whale-shark thing. "Guys" However their victory was short-lived when Natasha caught their attention and they looked back up to the tesseract portal to see two more of the things emerging along with waves of soldiers on their flying space crafts. This all sounded like a horribly real sci-fi movie. They just couldn't catch a break.

All seven of them turned around to watch the hell that poured out of the portal. This was it. The real battle was right in front of them.

"Call it, Captain." Stark's voice echoed from his suit.  
"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash." They had to admit that Steve's war experience was what they needed right now. The man could think on his feet and come up with a solid plan all while under pressure.

Clint looked over to Tony with an unsure look. "Can you give me a lift?"  
"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." The man responded with a jab to the archer. He grabbed Clint by the back of his vest and hauled him up into the air. The archer could happily admit that out of every method of getting up onto that roof top, that wasn't his best choice. He got a wave of dizziness when he landed but knew to quickly shake it off and get set up. He couldn't afford to be dizzy at a time like this.

Back on the ground, Cap was giving the rest of the team instructions "Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up." After a few swings of his hammer, Thor was flying through the air towards the Chrysler building to get a good spot so he could do his job.

Finally, Steve turned to the two women, on the ground, awaiting his orders. "Us three, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here." Both of them nod and ready their weapons. Looking to the last member of the team, Steve lifts a finger towards the heavy hitter of the group "And Hulk… Smash." The green guy just smirks before taking a giant leap onto the nearest building and smashing Chitauri soldiers as though they were rag dolls.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Things on the ground were getting pretty tense. The waves of soldiers just did. Not. End. Natasha took a nasty hit to the head which caused blood to trickle down her temple, she also sported a split lip. Further down the bridge, Laura wasn't in much better shape. Her left eyebrow was cut open and leaking purple blood, the eye beneath it was beginning bruise. She had plenty of rips in her uniform which displayed a variety of cuts, burns and grazes. And her muscles ached like hell. All of this was going to kill the next morning.

Using her powers, Laura launched the soldier, which was holding her down, off of her so she could climb back to her feet. But just as she did, more explosions sounded behind her. Along with a terrified scream of a woman and children. Without even thinking, she sheathed her weapon, launched herself over the bridge and onto the roof of a car. It wasn't her most graceful landing but she did manage to tuck and roll onto the ground. In one swift move she got straight back into a sprint and spotted where the sounds of terror were coming from. In the distance she could just about make out the sound of Steve calling after her. But he was the least of her worries.

A young women was using herself as a shield to protect the two young boys behind her. A couple more soldiers flew over and shot at the ground, sending cars flying in every direction. One being right towards the three civilians.

It was that very moment that Laura realised what being a hero meant. You put your own safety behind you to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. And that's just what she did. Laura sprinted in front of them, lifted her arms out in front of her, closed her eyes and prayed.

Once realising that she hadn't been hit. The engineer opened her eyes to see the car floating in mid-air. Come to think of it, she did feel a pressure against her hands when the car came towards her.

Shocked, the mother turned around from her children to see a random woman levitating the car above them as if it weighed nothing. The kids took that as their cue to look at what happened too and once they found their saviour they gazed in awe. A real life Superhero had just saved them. The mother noticed the blue fluxes running through the metal along the woman's back which was visible through the dozens of rips in her navy uniform.

After realising that she was still holding the car, Laura threw the thing off to the side and turned around to check on the family behind her. "Are you all okay?"  
"Y-yes. Thank you. Thank you so so much." The mother replied to the hero.  
"No problem. Okay, you need to get yourselves out of here." The woman nodded and listened intently to Laura's directions. Once she finished, the mother grabbed each boys hand and began to pull them towards safety. However, one of them broke free and ran for Laura. The kid wrapped his arms around her legs in a hug, squeezing with all his strength.  
"Thank you for saving us." The boy looked up at her with big blue eyes which were filled with so much sincerity and innocence that Laura couldn't find the words to reply. She just ran a hand through the kid's hair, gave him a smile and let his mother whisk him away.

As she turned around she almost ran into Steve. The Captain had a proud smile on his face "Good work, soldier." Laura just smiled at him and followed him back to the bridge.

After climbing onto the remains of cars and the grooved walls of the bridge. The Soldier and engineer finally hauled themselves back onto the bridge. Laura had to try not to fall back off the thing when Natasha span on them with the alien gun in her hands. The glowing weapon was quickly lowered once the spy realised who she was aiming at.

Natasha and Laura took a second to catch their breath whilst cap gazed up to the portal with a look of determination. "Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Natasha stated as she followed his gaze.  
"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." He replied  
"Maybe it's not about guns." Now that caught the other two's attention. Laura had an unsure look on her face whilst Steve ran with the Russian's plan. However, their attention was split with the new wave of foot soldiers down the end of the bridge. They weren't going to stay down there for long.  
"If you want to get up there, you're going to need a ride." The spy throws her alien gun to the ground and gets up from her seat on the hood of a broken car. Confidently, she strides across the bride's width until her back is against the side railing.  
"I got a ride." That earned her an increased look of uncertainty from the engineer. She couldn't be serious. "I could use a boost though." That statement was directed at the super soldier present.  
"Nat, are you… are you sure about this?" Laura asks her friend who just looks up at the flying Chitauri before diverting her gaze back to the woman.  
"Yeah. It's gonna be fun." She didn't sound too convincing. But no one would if they were about to jump onto a high speed alien space flying thing with alien enemies still on it.

Despite all the uncertainty, Natasha sprints forward, jumps onto the hood of the car she was previously sat on, and lands on the Captain's shield which the man uses to launce her upwards. Laura breathed a sigh of relief when the spy grabbed onto the flier and zoomed past their heads. At least she made the jump alright. Romanoff was the best of the best, she could easily handle herself. Well that's what Laura kept telling herself anyway. Natasha would have her head if she wasted valuable brain power worrying about her.

As soon as the Russian was out of sight, the Chitauri began firing at the two remaining Avengers on the bridge. Laura just looked up at the soldier, she was bloodied and beaten but still managed a smirk. "Ready for another round, Captain."  
"Always." The two heroes readied their weapons and began taking out the new enemy. No matter how many times they fell, they always got back up. They couldn't afford not to.

Laura spared a minute to glance at the super soldier. The way he fought, it didn't look like a battle. Each swing of his fist, each hit of his shield. It looked like a perfected dance. Every movement was smooth and calculated. He was a true soldier. A true hero. And even if she did fall today. She could proudly think that she did it next to him and the other Avengers.

Using a combination of both her powers and her weapon, Laura took down enemies with a new found determination. She thought back to the family she just saved. She thought about all the people out there who were at risk; who still needed saving.

As the pair on the bridge were killing soldier after soldier after soldier, Ironman flew down to give them a hand. He used his repulsor blasts to knock half a dozen of them backwards. He then gave a quick look to cap before firing his beams at the man's shield. Steve quickly caught on and directed the fire in an arc shape, taking down a lot of enemies who were directly in front of the group. The billionaire then gave a quick two finger salute to Laura and took off again to the skies.

The freedom of movement didn't last long though. As soon as they were taken down, the forces built back up again and were hitting the pair hard. Cap went down and was using his hands to keep the Chitauri weapon away from slicing his face in half. But he quickly pushed the thing out of the way and punched the soldier off of his weapon and onto the ground.

Just as the man stood up. Clint's voice sounded in their ears. "Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians in there."  
"I'm on it." Steve looked over at the woman to his right, knowing she heard Barton's words. "Laura, stay here and keep the fight focused."  
"But, I can hel-" Laura tried  
"I've got this. Will you be able to hold the fort here?"  
"Yeah… Of course." The man nodded at her reply and took off.

Nervously, she watched the Captain jump over the bridge railings yet again. Except this time there was no one else around her to back her up after he left. That new found determination was beginning to slip away by the second. It was one thing to get your ass kicked when you had a trained fighter to back you up. But she was on her own now and she had to get rid of these aliens.

Inhaling deeply, Laura steadied herself and pushed the panic and fear to the back of her mind. Now was no time to freak out. The sooner she dispatched the enemy, the sooner she could be down there to help the Captain.

"Come on, Laura. You can do this." She whispered words of encouragement to herself until she realised that everyone over the com link could hear her. Involuntarily, she blushed with embarrassment and got down to business.

Swinging her staff, she managed to stay on her feet for quite a while and took down plenty of enemy soldiers in the process. The new wave was finally beginning to thin out and that gave the woman another confidence boost that helped her get the job done.

There were about five left now. An idea sprang to her mind and caused her to sheath her weapon yet again. Channelling her powers, her blood turned blue and the energy flowed through her in a way that was almost intoxicating. The feeling of so much power completely at her disposal.

Laura pulled both hands to her right hip and held them in a ying and yang type position before launching them out in front of her. A blue beam of energy, much like the one from Loki's sceptre, flew forwards and flung the Chitauri back like they were nothing.

Although she was pretty damn powerful, she wasn't amazing at controlling the powers. They left her worn out yet buzzing with energy. That was going to take some getting used to.

After catching her breath, Laura set after Steve so she could back him up. She knew New York pretty well now since she and Clint had a small apartment for when they were working in the city. 42nd past Madison, she had a pretty good idea where that was so she ran off into what she hoped was the right direction.

Laura spotted the bank and made a beeline for it. But she was stopped in her tracks when a blast erupted from the windows of the first floor and set a blue and red Captain America flying backwards and onto the roof of a car.

"Steve!" she called out to the man who had fallen face down and wasn't making too much of a move to get back up. Quickly, she reached the man's side and helped him up.  
"Cap. He alright?" Tony asked over the com.  
"Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of him. He's good." She gave him a look which meant 'please tell me I'm right' he just nodded lightly. "Good work, soldier." She said to Rogers as he stood up to his full height. He just chuckled at her throwing his words back at him.  
"Thanks."

However, their humour was short lived when they looked around them. Everything was in chaos. People were running, screaming in fear. Brave service men and women were leading civilians to safety, putting their lives at risk so others didn't have to. What were once towering pieces of architecture were now piles of rubble scatter across broken roads.

What was once a beautiful city was now a warzone filled with loss and fear. But in some places there was hope and belief in those who were sworn to protect the innocent.

 **A/N: There we go. Another chapter. We are almost through with the battle of New York now. I was thinking about finishing this chapter but I decided that it would flow better if I did it the next chapter so yeah. Thanks for reading. Reviews are the best gift I could get right now ;-)**


	8. Where Do I Hide?

When We Stand Together chapter 8

Chapter Title: **Where Do I Hide?**

 **A/N:** **Hello people, I hate to inform you that I am back at school now. Not only that but I'm also now in year 11, which means GCSE time yay…**

 **Yup I can barely contain my excitement but I thought I should warn you that time is gonna be really tight for me again and I truly apologise for that. I will try my very hardest to keep updating but it definitely won't be consistent so again I'm really sorry. Because I haven't updated in agesssss I thought I'd give you a GIGANTIC chapter! 6000+ words! I'm pretty proud of that, I've been struggling with trying to write this chapter for a while but I eventually just sat down with the movie and wrote. Once I started writing, the ideas kept flowing and before I knew it I had 3000 words and I** _ **still**_ **hadn't finished the battle. So yeah sorry about all the delays and everything.**

 **Thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter.**

 **Review Replies:**

Fezwearingjellybananas: Hey, thanks for the writer's block tips! And thanks for you constant kind words and feedback! I've never had such a dedicated reviewer before so it means a lot. So cheers!

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

After the Captain had recovered from being blasted out of the bank, the pair's attention was caught by another huge Leviathan which was flying around without a care in the world; breaking buildings with such ease that it was scary.

Laura looked over at the captain after they realised where the beast was headed. They had to stop it, but Hulk, Thor and Stark were busy with their own tasks. Which meant that the super soldier and science experiment had to do this alone.

Swiftly, the flying beast manoeuvred further and further towards the perimeter the Avengers had set up. Not only that, but it was flying towards an area which had been set up to protect civilians whilst the heroes dealt with the alien problem.

Cap was about to run off when Laura placed a hand on the man's shoulder and shook her head. "Guys, we have a stray heading out of the perimeter. Someone gonna handle that?" Clint announced over the communication link.  
"Yeah, I've got it." Laura replied much to the Captain's disbelief. "Steve, you might pack a punch but I have to do this. If I concentrate enough, I might be able to use my telekinesis to deter it or something."

Sighing, the super soldier looked into the woman's eyes, he could see her sheer determination in that gaze. She really thought she could stop that thing. Well, who was he to stop her? But that didn't mean he was going to let her go alone.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Wind slapped Laura in the face as she tightened her grip on Steve's uniform. Cap had managed to find a knocked over motorcycle with the keys still left in, she wasn't about to question the sheer luck of that. Anyway, the motorcycle was the only thing that would get the duo to the people before the giant alien whale did.

Thank the Gods that Steve had years of experience on motorcycles because he had plenty of obstacles to weave in and out of. He gave the odd shout for Laura to fling something out of the way if there were too many obstructions. All in all, they made a good team.

Finally, they arrived and were met with a rather large group of civilians, and a few of them had some sort of recording device in their shaky grasp. _Just great, totally no pressure or anything._

There were a few cheers and some shouts from the crowd. _"It's Captain America!"  
"Who's the girl?"  
"Is that Black Widow?"  
"No Widow has red hair dumbass!" _everything came out as one giant mess which made it pretty hard to actually hear what they were saying. But luckily, Laura didn't need their input.

The roaring alien beast was heading towards everyone, swiftly pulled Laura from her thoughts. The engineer's face was all business as she turned to her teammate, "Steve, I need you to handle the debris. Keep it away from the civilians. Keep them safe." He nodded at the orders. But still hit the woman with a questioning look.  
"Are you really sure about this?"  
"Kinda… Well what choice do I have now? I'm here and I should have enough power to stop this thing. So I best get on with it." She gave the man an unsure smile which did nothing to reassure him. But he nodded all the same. She was right anyway.

Steve managed to somehow calm the crowd down slightly, their deafening screams finally dulling out. Which meant Laura actually had the ability to concentrate without panicking people bellowing at her.

Carefully, the woman walked towards the beast that was flying at her. She was no longer aware of the video cameras, of the people, of her team. It was just the Leviathan and her. And she sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight.

Just as the thing started coming into close enough range for it to be dangerous, Laura flicked her hands out by her sides, she used the motion as an 'on switch' for her powers. That familiar, intoxicating energy whizzed around her body and lit her up like an alien Christmas tree.

The monster finally came flying down, sending edges of buildings plummeting to the earth. Bravely, the engineer lifted her hands up and targeted the beast. In the next instant, there was a painful pressure pushing against her arms, a similar feeling to lifting weights that were just too heavy for you. Which seemed logical enough considering the size difference between the woman and the alien.

"Argh!" despite the fact that her feet were sliding backwards, Laura pushed back at the being with all her might. Effectively leaving the sentient warship floundering in the middle of the air. Its roars grew louder with the unknown struggle it was facing.

The crowd of civilians just watched as this unknown hero forced the beast back without even touching it. A young reporter from the daily bugle zoomed her shaky phone camera in just a little bit more when she noticed something on the hero's back.

Turns out, the heat produced from such strain on the energy in Laura's body, the exoskeleton had heated up so much that the clothing on top of it melted away. The uniform directly above it was missing, which left the exact shape of the contraption on view to the public. Every sliver of rare metal, every flux of tesseract energy flowing through it. Speaking of the Tesseract energy, it was reducing bit by bit.

Breathing heavily, Laura didn't stop pushing at the alien, even when the struggle was becoming too much. She did however fall to one knee as she began to feel strong waves of fatigue hit her.

Steve had jumped into action when the thing had initially flown towards them, but once Laura took control he could do nothing but stand there and watch, just like everyone else around him. There was no more falling debris. Just an immobile, screaming alien beast which was maybe a little too close for comfort but still out of reach.

Helplessly, Rogers watch as Laura struggled with the strain of her powers. There really was nothing he could do, except be ready to get her out of the way if the alien broke through her energy barrier.

Finally realising that it was now or never, Laura took as deep a breath as she could whilst keeping her focus. Then with a pain filled roar – yeah so maybe that wasn't the most _womanly_ action in the world – she threw her arms forward and watched as these blue waves tore the beast apart. They ripped through its very core, causing the beast to release one final cry of pain before falling to the ground, grey and lifeless.

Unfortunately, the alien ship wasn't the only thing to fall. After firing that last bit of energy, Laura's arms dropped heavily to her sides just before she started falling to her right, the ground flying up to meet her fast.

Thankfully, Steve ran forward, skidded to a halt and just about managed to catch the woman before she hit the concrete road.

"Laura! Cap, what's going on down there?" Clint shouted down the comm. link, worry clear in his voice. But none of them paid it any mind as they were all too busy kicking ass or worrying about the woman themselves.

The super soldier ignored the voices in his ear in favour of checking on the still form in his arms. "Laura, can you hear me?" Cap felt relief flood him when the engineer's eyes slowly opened and she groaned.

"Hey spangles, a status report would be good right about now." Tony's strained voice appeared in Steve's ear piece. He was obviously mid battle again. In any other situation the Captain would've chewed the genius out for the nickname but perhaps doing so, in the middle of a war, wasn't absolutely necessary. So he let it slide. Well for now anyway.

Quickly, Steve replied "Laura's fine, she just took out that warship so she's a little worn out." He looked down when the woman gave a dry chuckle. Finally, her eyes were fully open but were lacking their new vibrant blue. Instead, a warm brown colour met the soldier's eyes. If Steve had to guess, he would bet that the brown was her natural eye colour.

Over on his end, Clint's hammering heart finally slowed down at the confirmation that his wife was okay. Laura was okay. Thank God. Well his thankfulness was short lived when the archer came to the quick realisation that he was out of arrows. _Just great_. The assassin thought to himself as he kicked another alien over the edge of the building he was on.

"Good to hear." Stark replied to the super soldier and engineer.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Not long after Tony shut his com line down, Laura finally had the ability to get to her feet. The blue was quickly returning to her eyes. Not only that, but the tesseract levels on her back were replenishing themselves.

Her energy was finally returning to her body. Limbs no longer felt like useless bricks at her sides. Muscles no longer felt ripped to shreds. It was as if the exoskeleton was recharging itself.

As Laura got to her feet she suddenly remembered the huge crowd behind her. Slowly, she and the captain turned around to face the public. Things were silent for a few seconds. Laura didn't know what to expect, would they be terrified of her and her powers? Would they hate her because she was different? Would they see her as a hero? Or just a failed science experiment?

Well, she got her answer when the crowd erupted in cheers. People screaming out praise to Captain America and the woman alongside him. Passionate claps and cheers drowned out the noise of distant explosions. But one thing that did cut through the noise of the public was a barbaric roar from the hulk himself. That was enough to send the two heroes back into action. With a two fingered salute from Captain America, the pair hopped back on the motorcycle and took off back towards the bridge they started on, prepared to fight another onslaught of Chitauri soldiers.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Sweeping out her bronze weapon, Laura took down another soldier, one that was creeping up behind a distracted Thor, who had recently joined her and the Captain. It never did get easier since she didn't have the training and experience of her teammates. But that never stopped her from trying to keep up with them. Laura's arms burned with fatigue, despite the Tesseract energy, her body was just becoming so worn out that not even the alien power flowing through her could help the struggle that was fighting a war.

Steve threw his shield like a boomerang, the metal clanged against the heads of the enemy, knocking them down. Thor used his hammer to perform an uppercut on a close alien soldier, sending the thing flying backwards and into its fellow warriors. Laura used a gesture on her staff to extend a knife from one of the ends of the weapon. Then she held the thing like a javelin and launched it at an oncoming enemy. Needless to say, the woman was pretty chuffed when the weapon hit home in a Chitauri's chest. She gave a small smile as she thought of a saying that her husband would recite every time someone doubted his aim. _"Barton's never miss."_ Laura may hide her last name from the world but it was still hers and she didn't want it any other way.

Using her new powers yet again, the engineer locked onto the staff in the distance with an empty hand held out in front of her, then she willed the thing to move as she pulled her hand backwards slightly. The result turned out as expected, the staff was sitting firmly in Laura's hand once more. With her weapon by her side again she did her best taking down the enemy before she got taken down again.

Someone did get knocked down eventually but it wasn't Laura for once. No this time it was Captain America who hit the ground after a nasty plasma shot from a Chitauri soldier, he clutched his side as he groaned on the floor.

Thor and Laura worked together to get the remaining soldiers away from their fallen comrade. Thor deflected each and every shot from the enemy, protecting Laura whilst she launched a nearby car at the aliens. The vehicle flipped over and over until it took out the soldiers, leaving the three heroes in peace for a short few minutes.

With a look of concern, Thor extended his hand to the Captain and helped him back to his feet. "Are you ready for another bout?" Steve just looked around and replied breathlessly  
"What, are you getting sleepy?" Thor gave a small grin at the man's reply and held out his hand as a command for Mjolnir to return to his grasp.

Just as the trio were catching their breath, Natasha's voice echoed over their private frequency. "I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down" Thor and Laura just stared at each other in disbelief whilst Steve eagerly shouted back his approval. But to everyone's surprise, Tony told Natasha to wait.

"Stark, these things are still coming." Steve tried to explain to the genius. But Tony was adamant about waiting, and it turned out it was for a damn good reason.  
"I've got a Nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute… And I know just where to put It." now Laura and Thor were back to staring at each other with disbelief. A NUKE!? Who in their right mind ordered a Nuke on New York City!? They all knew it couldn't be Fury, the man was a lot smarter than that. Must've been the council. They probably went against his decision.

With a solemn face, Cap informed the billionaire "Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." But there was no reply.

The sound of thrusters caused the two men and the woman to look up into the sky. They were met with the view of Iron Man using all his power to change the direction of the missile, directing it upwards towards the portal. The man used his own building to aim the missile and himself upwards. Then in the blink of an eye, both the man and weapon disappeared into the endless space of the Tesseract's portal.

They all watched as the enemy suddenly collapsed all around them. Chitauri soldier's falling to the ground lifeless, Leviathan's losing their altitude and crashing atop of buildings, dead to the world. But they ripped their eyes away from the scene to stare back at the portal again. With all the faith she could muster, Laura prayed to God that Tony would come back to them all.

But as the nuclear explosion in the portal grew closer and closer to the people beneath it, Steve made the hard decision. Reluctantly, the man ordered Natasha "Close it."

They still all continued to stare in hope, even though that hope was fading quicker and quicker by the second.

But at the last moment, it seemed the lord answered Laura's prayers. Iron Man slipped through the portal just as it closed. That is what one would call a close call.

The whole team smiled at the sight of their friend falling back towards them. Steve said something but Laura wasn't paying any more attention as something else had stolen it. Why weren't Tony's thrusters on? Thor seemed to realise as well since he began to swing his hammer so he could fly off and save the man. But to everyone's surprise, the Hulk beat the Asgardian to it. Hulk grabbed the genius out of mid-air, slid down the side of a building and used himself as a cushion when he landed hard on the road, right in front of Steve, Thor and Laura.

They all rushed over to check on Stark, his mask lacked its usual blue lights where the eyes should be. Instead the metal was dirtied, dented and lifeless. The armour was no longer a suit but a shell hiding Tony Stark's fate from his teammates.

After there was no response to Steve's question of "Is he breathing?" Thor ripped the mask off the suit and tossed it behind him. Cap loomed over the man and tried to see if there was any life still in the billionaire. Laura sat at Stark's feet, helpless as she watched Steve try to help in some way.

Thor was on his feet, Steve was crouched at Stark's side, Laura was on her knees next to the fallen Iron Man and Hulk was fidgeting in his hunched standing position. They just stayed like that for a few seconds, unsure how to process what was going on.

Suddenly, Hulk roared at Tony's body, causing the others to jump out of their sombre minds. But that wasn't the only thing that did it. A shocked gasp from the genius lying on the floor brought a smile to all of their faces. Tony Stark was alive.

"What the hell?" the previously unconscious man choked out between heavy breaths. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me." Laura couldn't help but laugh at that.

Steve was staring off into the distance as realisation suddenly washed over him. "We won" he replied, barely above a whisper.  
"All right, yay. Hurray. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it." Tony's random rambling caused all of their smiles to get bigger, but the light mood didn't last long when Thor reminded them that they weren't quite finished. They all gave a small nod to the Asgardian before Tony piped up again "And the shawarma after." It wasn't a question but a statement, the man was having shawarma after this mess was sorted out.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Cap had given the order for everyone to meet in Stark's living room. Once the super soldier, science experiment, Asgardian and gamma monster were finally there, everyone shared a quick reunion. Clint and Natasha nodded at one another, they rarely hugged each other after a mission, and just a small nod of reassurance was all they needed. Laura on the other hand hugged the archer with all her strength, but was careful not to give anything away. The others new that Laura and Clint new each other before this so the hug came off as a reunion of two friends after a hard day. Laura and her husband hadn't discussed whether or not they were going to tell their new team about them being married. So the engineer decided to keep things normal until they decided the time was right. Laura did the same to Natasha as well, just to make sure no one suspected her and Clint, and also because she was worried about the Russian too. Everyone else shared manly handshakes and supportive pats on the shoulder as the team finally came together to take in the villain that started this all.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Loki groaned as he did his best to haul himself up from the gaping hole in the ground. Just as he was using his hand to climb the small set of stairs that led to the bar, the sound of a foot crunching on debris caught his attention. The God turned around to see a heavily battle damaged Tony Stark, a pissed off looking but tame Hulk, the good Captain holding his burned shield with pride, his stupid brother with his equally stupid hammer, which happened to be reflecting sunlight right into his eyes, then there was the Russian, standing strong with, wait was that _his_ SCEPTRE! And on the woman's right was the head engineer of S.H.I.E.L.D., his own personal experiment holding her own weapon by her side. Finally there was the archer, the agent he'd mind controlled into attacking his own organisation, he was by far the angriest of them all. He held his signature bow and arrow with strength fuelled by anger and the need for revenge, the arrow sat loaded on the bow, aimed directly for the villain's head should he need to release it. Loki could tell just how much the agent wanted to let that arrow fly.

The fallen God stared at them all for a moment longer before finally speaking up. He looked over to Stark "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now." Unfortunately for him, none of them moved a muscle at his comment. They just stayed standing there, looming over him in victory.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

After handing the war criminal over to S.H.I.E.L.D. for safe keeping, the Avengers fulfilled Tony's wish. Once the hulk had calmed down enough, Bruce returned to them and Stark handed the man some clothes to change into before they left.

The genius left his armour outside of the small shawarma restaurant, leaving him in his normal clothes. The others however just placed their orders and sat down in the damaged and dusty shop, silent. Injuries were still unattended to, their bloodied and torn uniforms still clung to their bodies as they all finally took a breath. But none of that mattered because they did it. They actually stopped an alien invasion. Seven unique and special people who were brought together by a government organisation managed to save the world. It was an odd feeling but not an unwelcome one.

Thor sat there scoffing down about five dishes for himself alone, whilst the humans languidly chewed on their own food. Content to just sit there and not say a word to each other. Clint had his feet propped up behind Natasha on her chair, and the man's right shoulder leant against his beautiful, strong and, to those around them, secret wife who had pulled up a chair between Bruce and himself. She leant back against him as well so they were supporting each other, just like always.

It may not have been the most action packed moment of the day, but it was Laura's favourite. They were finally a team. Steve and Tony weren't arguing, Bruce was calm, Thor was being well… Thor, the assassins were relaxed. There was no awkwardness just the respected silence of her teammates. It was a perfect, if not strange, picture. One Laura hoped to remember for all the long years ahead of them.

In their little circle around the wooden dining table, everything seemed normal, as if New York hadn't almost been blown to pieces. It was that normalness that made Laura the happiest because she knew for certain that this wasn't over. She'd realised that there will always be someone out there trying to harm the world or the people on it, and that's where the Avengers come in. There work will never be done and if she was being honest, Laura didn't mind that too much. She'd gone from being just an engineer at S.H.I.E.L.D. to becoming a hero, she gained a new team and people she would happily call family. It wasn't just Clint, Nat and Laura anymore, they had a whole unit of family now. So such a normal moment between all the craziness about to head their way, those will forever be the moments she looks forward to most.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Unfortunately, the meal had to come to an end. The team had to sneak back onto the helicarrier and help Thor escort Loki home. They also had to tend to their injuries and grab a change of clothes and even a shower if they had enough time.

Back at the flying fortress, the second the Avengers put their first feet on the runway, the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel on board were cheering and clapping in victory and thanks to the team in front of them. It was so strange, all this praise. Tony was obviously used to it and took it in his stride but the others might never get used to the fame.

As they walked into the control room to meet with Fury and have a debrief, the group noticed screens filled with news reports, YouTube videos and so much more. There were videos of memorial services for all those who the heroes couldn't save, there were videos of people sending out their thanks to the Avengers, there were pictures of them all along with their names and codenames. That's what caught the team's attention the most, Laura spotted herself in the line-up and raised an eyebrow at her codename, she sure as hell didn't give herself that…

They all followed Laura's eyes to the board showing their pictures and names to not only them but the entire public as well. Clint chuckled once he spotted his wife's codename. "Exo, huh?" the man repeated the word to see how it worked. He then looked over to his other half and smiled "Exo… I like it." Smiling, the others nodded in agreement.

Exo. She would bet her entire life savings that the Daily Bugle came up with that. It hadn't even been half a day and she already had a codename. Or as the news was calling it, a superhero name.

The team were pulled from their friendly chatter when Nick walked into the room with a small grin on his face. The phrase 'I told you so' didn't even need to be spoken as that once look said it for him. Fury had faith that they could work as a team, even when they didn't.

There was one thing you could never doubt.

Nick Fury was always right.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Laura feared waking up in the morning. If the aches she had now were anything to go by, she doubted there would be much moving on her part tomorrow. She never noticed in the adrenaline rush of the alien war, but she had some pretty nasty injuries. A few needed stitches, like her eyebrow, her left forearm had to be bandaged and she had torn plenty of muscles. The burns from the enemy's guns would heal in time and just needed to be continuously covered until then.

Despite being freshly tended too, Laura braved the showers. There was no way she could stand being covered in her own maroon blood, the blood of her enemy and the dirt of New York City a second longer.

A relaxed breath escaped the woman as she stepped under the almost burning cascade of water. It took a while for her wounds to adjust, but once they did she was as close to bliss as she could be. Her aching back felt weighed down by the exoskeleton and her knotted muscles, but the hot shower seemed to help push the aches and pains to the back of her mind. It was relaxing to say the least.

After drying off and changing her clothes, Laura exited the helicarrier's bland, changing rooms and made a move for the room the Avengers were waiting in. However on her way, she bumped into the last member of her team who still needed a shower.

Strong arms wound around Laura's waist to keep her from falling backwards. "You never did look where you were going." A charming and familiar voice filled the engineer's ears. She looked up with a small smile to meet the tired eyes of her husband. He was still dirty and still had his mission gear on but in Laura's opinion he looked as good as he did on their wedding day. She could never tire of looking at Clint. His boyish smile, vibrant eyes, strong build. The man was her everything. And even after all the years they had been together, she still looks at him as if he is the only man in the world.

Remembering that they were out in the open, Laura pulled away from the archer before he got any ideas that could result in them being found out. "Thank you for catching me, agent Barton." Laura said with a smirk.

Without another word, the pair went their separate ways again. It was surprisingly hard. All she wanted to do was grab the man show him how much she loved him. But of course, that was all out of the question. Maybe even more so now than ever. They couldn't risk being a liability to their new team. They still hadn't talked about telling them but she had a feeling Clint would agree with her on this. It would be best not to tell them unless absolutely necessary.

So until that situation arises, they would have to go about as if they were just friends, and save their more special moments for when they were behind the closed doors of their secluded barn house.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

Once Clint finally came back to the room the team was waiting in. Fury told them all that they would have to go their separate ways for a little while, just until the who battle of New York thing wasn't so fresh on everyone's mind. The director also told them all the date of Coulson's funeral, which brought back the painful memory of the agent's death.

Everyone was dismissed and got ready to go, except for the three members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint, Laura and Natasha all stayed behind to hear what their boss had to say.

"You three have gone above and beyond so I wanted to say thank you. But that also makes what I'm about to say all the more hard. Romanoff, you are suspended from duty for a couple of weeks. You deserve some rest after everything that's happened." Natasha reluctantly nodded, she didn't want a break, she just wanted to do her job. But she knew better than to argue with Fury about it. A couple weeks wasn't too bad.

Fury then moved onto the couple in the room. "Miss Harper, you too will be released from your duties. But because of what you went through with Loki, you will be out of action for a couple of months. After that, you may then return to your job." Laura gave a small smile of thanks but spoke up, much to the director's surprise.  
"Actually Fury, I would like to hand in my notice. I quit." The three people in the room with Laura were pretty damn shocked at her statement. "As much as I love my job, you stole my designs Nick. Not only that, but you used them to create weapons you know I am against making. That was way more up Stark's street." There was no malice in the woman's voice as she continued to make her point "So as much as it hurts me to say it. I have to quit." Fury nodded in understanding  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Laura. You'll be dearly missed." She thanked the man with sad eyes. Laura loved her job and everything about it, but she just couldn't keep going and pretend that nothing happened. She's witnessed what dangerous weapons can do and she just can't stick around and draw out possible designs for them anymore. "Miss Harper, I'm sure you are aware that the triskelion will be up and running soon." Laura nodded with a raised eyebrow, where's he going with this? "Well, we are still looking for positions and I would like you to teach the powered kids, show them what it takes to be a hero."

If it were possible, Laura's jaw would've fallen off of her face and onto the floor. Did Nick Fury just offer her a job, seconds after quitting the one she worked her entire life to get? Unable to find any words, the woman just nodded her head in acceptance.

Pleased with the woman's reply, Fury moved onto Clint. This news was going to be the hardest to deliver. "Barton, I'm afraid you will be suspended for an indefinite period. Also due to your recent run in with Loki, we can't let you back out into the field until I am 100% sure your mental health is stable." The director watched as Clint's face literally fell.  
"But sir, I'm fin-"the archer tried to reason with his boss.  
"No, Barton. You aren't fine." Fury replied firmly, his rank showing in that moment as Clint automatically backed down. "You were mind controlled by a maniac that tried to take over the world. Nobody is fine after that. You're gonna take some time off, spend some time with your wife. And only when I say its okay, then you can come back into the field. Until then, get some rest, train and I will let you know when your first mental health test will be. Understood?"  
"Yes, sir." Clint replied  
"I am sorry about this, Barton. But it's for your own good."  
"I understand, sir."  
"However, if you're up for it, you can help teach the kids at the triskelion until you're back on the front line. Who better to learn agility and aim from than Hawkeye himself?" Clint looked up to see the director smirking, with a nod that equalled his wife's, he accepted the offer.

That was the end of the conversation. Fury took his leave as did Natasha, since she knew Clint needed a little support from Laura after just being told he couldn't do what he loved for a while.

WHEN WE STAND TOGETHER…

It was pushing into the evening when everyone finally got to the meeting point. They were saying good riddance to Loki and goodbye to one of their new teammates, Thor.

Everyone got out of their vehicles and made their way to stand around the two Asgardians. Loki's hands were chained together and his mouth had a guard over it, shielding people from his relentless and twisted words.

Whilst Thor bid goodbye to Selvig, Loki took the time to look at the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in front of him. Agent Barton and Laura Harper, the two he did the most wrong to. And if he was being honest with himself, he didn't regret any of it one bit. He created Exo, turned a normal human into a warrior capable of levelling an Asgardian, with the proper training of course. He also managed to infiltrate one of the biggest organisations on the planet using one of their own assassins against them. He was the biggest threat this planet had faced, and he wasn't even through with the humans yet. Oh he will be back, maybe not soon but eventually, he will have his revenge.

All three agents had emotionless expressions on their faces whilst the God gazed at them. Natasha turned to each of them and whispered in their ears, causing the pair to each smirk at Loki. The God was oblivious to the words exchanged but he knew it had to do with him. _Pathetic mortals, thinking they are so powerful when the threat is shackled before them. Just they wait, they will learn their lesson eventually._

Thor finally returned to stand before his brother, a chamber holding the tesseract securely was placed in front of Loki, an empty handle waiting to be grasped. And so the deranged God did, he gripped the handle and watched as his brother nodded to the Avengers before twisting his own handle. A sudden shield of tesseract energy covered the brothers before they were teleported back to their home realm.

Eventually the others parted ways as well. Steve and Tony shook hands, Natasha handed Bruce his bag from the S.H.I.E.L.D. car before Clint, Laura and herself got in, driving off to the Barton farm house. Bruce went over to join stark in his ridiculously expensive and extravagant car whilst Steve straddled his motorcycle and took off wherever he decided on going.

Sure the team had parted ways, some worlds apart. But when the day comes that the world needs them again. They will be ready.

They had to be.

 **A/N: Annnnnnnnnnnnnnddddd that's a wrap!**

 **Nah I'm just kidding! There is plenty more planned for this story! The only thing that's happened is we have finished the battle of New York so YAY! Took me long enough. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!**


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